Union Budget 2022 Expectations: Robust digital infrastructure, increase skill-based education

The education system has been plagued by the ongoing pandemic situation since March 2019. Read further to know about the expectations various education experts have from Union Budget 2022. 

Union Budget 2022: The Department of School Education and Literacy is one of the major parts of the Ministry of Education apart from the higher education departments. School Education and Literacy department is largely responsible for education imparted to children falling in the age group of 6 to 18 years, i.e., school education.  The government of India mandated elementary education to all children between 6-14 years of age under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009.  Secondary education is imparted to children between the age group of 14-18 years, i.e. Class 9 to 12. In order to facilitate the same, the country releases a budget every year. This year, the budget will be presented on February 1, 2022.

The education system has been plagued by the ongoing pandemic situation since March 2019. The closure of schools, suspension of offline classes and commencement of virtual education has caused a major digital divide in the country. In 2020-21, the allocation for the Ministry of Education witnessed a decrease of 14%, i.e.  From INR 99,312 crore at the budget stage to INR 85,089 crore at the revised stage. The decision was taken by the government to allocate these funds on health management and help India fight COVID-19.

According to the 2020-21 budget report, the schemes that witnessed a significant reduction in allocation at the revised stage were:

• Higher Education Financing Agency (91% reduction)
• Student financial aid (48% reduction)
• Samagra Shiksha (48% reduction)

The schemes that received an increased allocation of funds were:

• World-class institutions (increased by 120%)
• Mid-Day Meal programme (increased by 17%)
• Autonomous bodies such as Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) (increased by 13%)
• Grants to Central Universities (increased by 13%).

Whereas, in 2021-22, the Ministry had been allocated INR 93,224 crore, the 8th highest allocation among all Ministries. In 2021-22, the Department of School Education and Literacy was allocated INR 54,874 crore, accounting for 59% of the Ministry’s total allocation. The Department of Higher Education received an allocation of Rs 38,351 crore, accounting for 41% of the Ministry’s total allocation.

In 2021-22, the highest expenditure (33%) was allocated towards Samagra Shiksha (Rs 31,050 crore), followed by:

• autonomous bodies (12%) such as Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS)
• Mid-Day Meal Programme (12%)
• Grants to central universities (8%)
• Indian Institutes of Technology (8%)
• Statutory and regulatory bodies (University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)) (5%), among others.

Expectations from Union Budget 2022

With Union Budget 2022 in line, industry experts and stakeholders are expecting that issues affecting Indian Education Sector due to the pandemic outbreak would be addressed during this year’s budget. From demanding concession on GST, to robust digital infrastructure and focus on skill-based education, experts are talking about all.

Robust digital infrastructure, give education sector priority

Ajinder Kaur, Senior School In-charge, DAV Public School, Pushpanjali Enclave said, “Education budget should increase given the situation because we all talk about remote learning but to make it a reality, training teachers alone is not sufficient. Besides providing gadgets to both students and teachers we also need to pay them for internet facility which is a monthly expenditure and difficult for any teacher to afford. This will be possible only if the government allocates funds for education.”

“Also, if we need to reopen schools and maintain physical distancing then the class size has to reduce which again would require more teachers and infrastructure. Last year many small schools closed, many teachers were left underpaid. Which should not happen in the future. Not only teachers but students also suffered. This could have been avoided had the government allocated funds. Education as we say is a social sector and responsibility of government and also an integral part of human development, so can't be ignored. We all know that our students have suffered the most. Therefore in this budget, this sector should be given priority while allocating funds” she added.

Santosh Kumar, Co-founder & CEO, 21K School, said, “The government could focus on working towards strengthening the digital infrastructure in our country, as there has been a leap in the online mode of education, and also help create measures to collectively tackle the issues related to providing education to every region for achieving education to all. Gamification in education will provide an immersive and personalised learning experience to students, which will help in better retention of concepts and easy understanding through 3D visualising for tougher concepts. Virtual education itself can aim in reaching every home, empower students with more choices, enhance digital literacy and make a significant impact on the employment and skilling aspects of their careers.

According to a study, online education is yet to reach 70% of children in India, TOI said. This is happening because nearly 40% to 70% of the kids do not have a device.

Ram Vilas, a vegetable seller, told, “I have two kids. They used to study in school but during the lockdown, we faced a tremendous cash crunch. I had to make my kids work on a confectionary shop to support the family. I lost my wife to COVID as I could not invest much on her health. I want my children to study but it is not possible as they teach on phone and it is impossible for me to afford.”

Increasing Digital Divide

While expressing his views on expectations from Union Budget 2022 with respect to the education sector on Sansad TV, T.V. Mohandas Pai current Chairman of Manipal Global Education said, “COVID has increased digital divide. There are 26.5 crore students in schools. Out of the total, approximately 50% study in government schools. Students in government schools do not have the means to attend classes via online mode. Almost 10 crore students need assistance in online education. There is a need to provide the devices with preloaded software in order to enable learning for them and that would cost approximately around 10, 000 INR each. This means we require INR 1 Lakh Crore budget for these students.”

“Schools are shut for last two years. Students are out of touch from studies, they have forgotten what school was like. The Centre and state have to work together. There is a need to support students coming from low economic backgrounds, else, this negligence would cost the country’s growth. Also, there must be a system to provide internet facilities to teachers and faculty. They must not incur 50% of their salary on the internet. If we are expecting India, education system to become digitally driven, then the wise allocation of funds is the need of the hour. ” he further added.

Need to increase skill-based education

Being another guest on the talk show, Anushika Jain, CEO GlobalShala, said, “There is a need of allocation of budget on NEP as India provides human resource all over the world. The education system, for now, is just knowledge-based, however, employers around the country or world look for skills that a candidate must possess. India hardly has measures to convert knowledge to skills. I would want that focus must be on learning experiences to make students employable not just in India but all around the world.”

“Students are more, teachers are more but devices are less. Pandemic has taught online teaching techniques to every age group and there is no going back even after the pandemic. There will be hybrid learning all around as people have understood that online education has much more potential to reach the masses. The gap that we would have covered in the next 10 years that we have covered in the last 2 years. Teachers and senior faculties have learned to render education via an online platform,” Jain added.

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