This is bound to boost private sector investment through a crowd-in effect. At a macro level, the Budget numbers reflect a strong revival in the economy with good tax buoyancy. The fiscal deficit projection for next year at 6.4% of a much larger nominal GDP base indicates that the government can proceed as planned with the development and investment in social infrastructure, particularly education.
This budget has many positives for the education sector. There has been a substantial increase in allocation towards education in this budget, with many policy announcements that will make learning more accessible, equitable and affordable in India. The Ministry of Education has been allocated Rs 104,277 crore for 2022-23, which is a welcome and timely jump of about 12% over the previous year. What impresses me the most is that the government has approached its schemes with a digital-first mindset, which is the surest way to capitalize on India’s demographic dividend.
The expansion of ‘One class-One TV channel’ programme under PM eVIDYA to 200 TV channels and the launch of 750 virtual science and mathematics labs will help in addressing the ‘COVID learning gap’ by boosting supplementary school education. I have always believed in an omni-channel approach to shrink India’s great education divide. I also think it’s far easier to bridge the digital learning gap than the physical learning gap because it is only digitally that the best classroom can reach the remotest student. The plan to connect all villages and their residents with optical fibre through Bharatnet by 2025 will go a long way in making India’s digital learning infrastructure robust and equitable. The next logical step would be to subsidize access to digital devices for underserved families. Currently, less than 5% of our rural population has access to computers, as per 2020 NSO Report on Education. India’s learning revolution will begin in all earnest when every child has access to a digital device and a stable internet connection.
We have less than two decades to capitalize on India’s demographic dividend, which will peak in 2041. This can only be achieved by increasing enrolments and improving outcomes in higher education, as well as providing online upskilling opportunities at scale. In this regard, the finance minister has pertinently proposed to set up a digital university that will offer world-class universal education with personalised learning experience in Indian languages through a networked hub-spoke model. She has also proposed a futuristic Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack) e-portal, which will help the employed and employable youth in skilling, reskilling and upskilling through on-line training. The National Skill Qualification Framework will now be aligned with industry needs, which is the right step forward in establishing industry-academia linkages. Thousands of teachers in India took up online teaching in the last two years. They will now benefit from the government’s new initiative to engage ‘digital teachers’ for creating e-content in all spoken languages.
The Budget has many announcements that will bolster the digital economy, which is a big positive for the EdTech sector. The introduction of Central Bank Digital Currency (the ‘digital Rupee’) and the setting up of 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 districts will encourage further adoption of digital payments. The emphasis on ‘trust-based governance’ and ‘Ease of Doing Business 2.0’, if implemented in letter and spirit, will take the Indian startup culture to the next level.
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The government is expected to continue acting upon the liberating reforms of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which treats school education as a continuum with the ultimate aim of empowering a child for life. The policy focus is gradually but surely shifting towards teaching Indian children how to learn rather than what to learn and where to learn. It’s ironic that 22 years into the 21
st century we are still debating what are ‘21
st Century Skills’. This Budget is not just focused on educating the Indian student. It’s equally focused on liberating her from the constraints of time, cost and place.
India is now ready to shift from tech-enabled education to tech-inclusive learning. This requires a long-term commitment by all stakeholder groups towards the pursuit of creating a learning society, which will then create the world’s strongest knowledge economy. The illiterates of this century are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.
