Education Budget 2022: 4 things you need to know!

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented  the Budget for 2022-23 on Tuesday. Let us look at what the Union Minister has for the education sector.

The government recognizes the impact the pandemic has on the education of children, particularly the underprivileged. The pandemic has led to the closure of schools for a prolonged time. It has caused the loss of formal education for many children. The children from rural areas and weaker sections are most impacted.

Children across India have faced online and offline modes by educational institutions for the last two years, which has impeded their learning outcomes and experience. The government acknowledged the need for supplementary tracking and building resilient mechanisms for education delivery.

One Class One TV Channel - In the FY22-23 budget, the finance minister has announced the expansion of 'One Class One TV Channel', a PM e-vidya initiative. At present, there are only 12 channels under this giving education to students between classes 1 and 12. The current budget will expand this to 200 TV channels. This expansion would enable all states to provide supplementary education to students in regional languages for classes 1 to 12. Provision of education in regional languages is one of the key initiatives under National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. This expansion will assist in achieving the goals of the policy.

Digital University - The budget will have the formation of a digital university to provide access to world-class education to Indian students. The university will work with the other central universities in the country to provide the required digital infrastructure and training. 

Focus on Agri-education - The government also plans to focus on agri-education. It will revise the syllabus of agricultural universities to meet the needs of natural, organic, and zero-budget farming.

Set up of foreign universities - the government has decided to allow the setting up of foreign universities in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT city) to provide courses in financial management, fin-tech, mathematics among others.