NEW DELHI: The impetus for the education for 2022-23 would be on digital mode of learning to reverse the learning loss caused by the academic disruption due to the Covid-19 situation. The Centre while announcing an enhanced financial allocation of Rs 1.04 lakh crore from Rs 93,224 crore (Budget estimate) in 2021-22, highlighted initiatives such as setting up of a digital university to be built on a ‘hub-and-spoke’ model and expansion of ‘one class-one TV channel’ programme through 200 channels for providing supplementary education in regional languages, among others.

Apart from the digital the university, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech, announced that five institutions will be recognised as centres of excellence on urban planning and AICTE will take the lead on developing curriculum for them, world-class foreign universities will to be allowed to offer programmes in financial management, fintech, science, tech, engineering and maths, free from domestic regulations.

The pandemic and its impact on education and mitigation strategy remained the focus of the 2022-23 budget, as the minister acknowledged that closure of schools, children, particularly in the rural areas, and those from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and other weaker sections, have lost almost two years of formal education.
“Mostly, these are children in government schools. We recognise the need to impart supplementary teaching and to build a resilient mechanism for education delivery.

“For this purpose, ‘one class-one TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12,” said Sitharaman.

The proposed digital university will be established to provide access to world-class quality universal education with personalized learning experience at the doorsteps of students across the country. This will be made available in different Indian languages and ICT formats, the minister said.

“The university will be built on a networked hub-spoke model, with the hub building cutting-edge ICT expertise. The best public universities and institutions in the country will collaborate as a network of hub-spokes,” added Sitharaman.

The enhanced allocation for the education sector laid emphasis on digital modes of learning to reverse learning losses in the past two years.

The minister proposed 75 skilling e-labs for a simulated learning environment in 2022-23 to promote critical thinking skills and to give space for creativity. Sitharaman said that a Digital Ecosystem for skilling and livelihood, the DESH-Stack e-portal, will be launched to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through online training.

“High-quality e-content in all spoken languages will be developed for delivery via internet, mobile phones, TV and radio through Digital Teachers. A competitive mechanism for the development of quality e-content by the teachers will be set up to empower and equip them with digital tools of teaching and facilitate better learning outcomes,” she said.

Complimenting the FM and the PM for “a bold, futuristic, growth oriented, and pro-people budget’, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the social media said, “Digital University, 200 TV channels under e-VIDYA, digital ecosystem for skilling, digital currency and several other path-breaking initiatives in the #AatmanirbharBharatKaBudget lays a modern, pioneering and practical blueprint for steering India in the Amrit Kaal.”

The FM announced that for developing India-specific knowledge in urban planning and design, and to deliver certified training in these areas, up to five existing academic institutions in different regions will be designated as centres of excellence.

“These centres will be provided endowment funds of Rs 250 crore each. In addition, AICTE will take the lead to improve syllabi, quality and access of urban planning courses in other institutions.

School education outlay for 2022-23 is at Rs 63,449.37 crore, nearly Rs 9,000 crore more than 2021-22. The country’s biggest school education scheme, the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, has been allocated Rs 37,383.36, an increase of more than Rs 6,000 crores from Budget 2021.

Funds for the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas have increased. Kendriya Vidyalayas got Rs 7,650 crore for the next financial year and Navodaya Vidyalayas got Rs 4,115 crores.

The centre has allocated Rs 40,828 crore to the education ministry’s higher education department for the next financial year, which is an increase of 6.6% over the current financial year. In 2021-22, the budget for the higher education department was Rs 38,350.65 crore and it further dropped to Rs 36,031.57 in the revised estimates.

Vidya Yeravdekar, principal director, Symbiosis Society, said: “There is a lot of emphasis on digital this time. States will be encouraged to revise syllabi of agricultural universities to meet needs of natural, zero-budget and organic farming, modern-day agriculture. One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12. Digital university can be functional optimally only when the connectivity and bandwidth to rural areas is optimum.”

According to Surabhi Goel, CEO, Aditya Birla Education Academy, Aditya Birla World Academy, “With a theme of digitisation, the budget has laid emphasis on the importance of continuing to train teachers to improve hybrid learning outcomes especially since the students have faced huge learning gaps due to the pandemic. We are in-line with the announcement as Aditya Birla Education Academy is at the forefront of designing courses to help the country’s educators enhance their skills and bridge gaps as students return to school in 2022.”