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On Friday, Harpal Singh Cheema, Punjab Finance Minister, introduced a Rs 1.96 lakh crore state budget for 2023-2024, focusing primarily on the education, health, and agriculture sectors.

The finance minister presented a budget of Rs 17,072 crore for school and higher education, 12 percent higher than the last year.

The state finance minister also disclosed new schemes, including a young entrepreneur scheme and two coaching initiatives for students in the first budget of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

Cheema said the total budget had been increased by 26% to Rs 1,96,462 crore for 2023-2024 over the last year. It was the first full budget of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

He said, in the education sector, 117 schools have been recognised for upgrading as Schools of Eminence. Of these schools, work for upgradation on a pilot basis has already begun at four schools in the Amritsar district.

Punjab Young Entrepreneur Programme has been introduced in order to facilitate Class 11 students to present their authentic business ideas. The government will support the startup by offering seed money of Rs 2,000 per student. An allowance of Rs 30 crore is proposed for this objective.

The state finance minister proposed an allocation of Rs 100 crore for installing a rooftop solar panel system in government schools.

In addition, two new schemes – Soft Skill and Communication Training and Professional Coaching for Employment – under which training on professional lines will be offered to students by establishing dedicated employability coaching centres in government-based colleges.

After coming to action in March 2022, the AAP first passed a vote-on account on March 22, and it introduced its allocation in June for the remaining part of the year.