The Education sector had high hopes for Budget 2022, given that in the last two budgets the allocations for the education sector had been falling.
The announcements so far seem to be not up to the expectations. Some of the initiatives, like the focus on digital education, creation of centres of excellence, job creation, a boost for agricultural universities, and skill development programme are heartwarming. During the last two years of the pandemic, certain shortcomings of the education sector have been exposed.
Hybrid learning is here to stay. Both the teachers and students have realised the convenience and efficacy of online education. Another aspect of online education is that substantial funding is required for developing e-content. In this context, the focus on digital education is welcome. However, the task of making every school and college digitally capable is a mammoth task and the government has to raise sum to help educational institutions in this area.
The traditional institutes of higher education need special support from the government as they are competing against private institutions and the Ed-tech sector which is flush with private funding.
If the country has to reap the benefits of demographic dividend, we have to go beyond the incremental approach and rethink the ways to finance the development of the education sector.
I would still rate it eight on a scale of 10 as I believe that it is a step in the right direction as modest and focused reform agendas are visible.
(The writer is JBIMS Director)
