Comments
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has highlighted the need to “impart supplementary teaching” and “build a resilient mechanism for education delivery”, keeping in mind the fact that the pandemic has hit formal education for children in government schools, particularly among SC, ST and “other weaker sections”.
She called for expansion of the “one class - one TV channel” PM e-VIDYA programme from 12 to 200 TV channels so that states can provide supplementary education in regional languages from classes 1 to 12.
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 development of quality e-content by teachers will be set-up to empower and equip them with digital tools and facilitate better learning outcomes,” the Finance Minister said.
Due to the pandemic-induced closure of schools, children — particularly those in rural areas and from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other weaker sections — have lost almost 2 years of formal education. These are mostly children from government schools, she added.
Budget Allocations
The Finance Minister has increased the overall allocation for the education sector for the 2022-23 Budget to ₹1.04-lakh crore from ₹93,224 crore (Budget estimate) in 2021-22. The revised estimate for 2021-22 is ₹88,001 crore.
Related Stories
Digital Skilling and E-learning for governments schools to get enhanced
The government will be launching a portal to skill, reskill and upskill citizens through online trainingThe amount earmarked for samagra shiksha (school education sector) jumped from ₹31,050 crore in 2021-22 to ₹37,383 crore in 2022-23.
Mid-day meal, or the PM Poshan scheme, received ₹10,233 crore in 2022-23, down 11 per cent from ₹11,500 crore in the Budget estimate of 2021-22. The revised allocation for 2021-22 was lower than the estimate at ₹10,233 crore, indicating that the total fund earmarked for the scheme could not be spent during the ongoing financial year amid long closures of schools.
‘Need more teachers’
According to Satish Despande, author and Professor of Sociology, money is not being spent on hiring teachers or filling up existing vacancies across levels in different educational institutions. While digital learning and investments are seen as the new normal and a suitable low cost option, it is too early to categorise them as good or bad.
“Surely money is not going into hiring teachers. We need more teaches and fill up existing vacancies at all level,” he told BusinessLine.
Digital University
The Finance Minister has also proposed setting up of a digital university.
The university will give students across the country access to world-class quality universal education with “personalised learning experience at their doorsteps”. This will be made available in different Indian languages.
The university will be built on a hub-spoke network model, with the hub building cutting edge ICT expertise. The best public universities and institutions in the country will collaborate on this project, said Sitharaman.
According to Budget proposals, 750 virtual labs in science and mathematics and 75 skilling e-labs for simulated learning environment in vocational courses will be set-up in 2022-23 to promote crucial critical thinking skills and give space for creativity,
Start-ups will be promoted to facilitate “Drone Shakti” through varied applications and for Drone-as-a-Service. In select ITIs, in all states, the required courses for skilling will be started.
“New e-learning content delivery platforms through the internet, TV and smartphones — particularly to help rural and semi-urban students — can bridge gaps in learning across sections. It is commendable that the budget outlined strategic steps to improve accessibility of quality education for students all over the country,” said Shashi Banerjee, Director of Education, Shiv Nadar School.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.