Budget 2022: FM announces new digital university, 200 TV channels for education sector

Giving a thrust to technology adoption in education, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said a digital university will be established on a hub and spoke model.

She said one class-one channel scheme will be expanded from 12 channels now to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to offer supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12.

She added the government recognises the need of supplementary education to help students recover from the learning loss caused by the closure of schools and colleges.

But budgetary allocation for 2022-23 did not match with this high octane announcement. For all the push for technology adoption, Budget 2022-23 pegged an aoutlay of Rs.421 cr for 'Digital India-e-learning' initiatives, a umbrella intiatiative comprising several schemes.

This is much lower from Rs.645.61 cr allocated in Fy22 BE.  Howver, the Revised estimate of Fy22 has reduced the tech adoption outlay to Rs. 367.5 cr from the BE allocations. It means, the Fy23 allocation on this front is moderately higher  that the RE of Fy22. Another key program PM e-Vidya that found a mention in Budget speech, has, however, got an allocation of just Rs. 1 lakh. 

The FM said high quality e-content in all spoken languages will be developed for radio, TV and digital platforms.

She said e-content and PM e-Vidya initiatives will be expanded as a means to improve access to quality education. This comes, she added, after two years of education disruption due to the pandemic.

The announcement is in sync with the National Education Policy that underlined the need to create an autonomous NETF for free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration, and so on, both for school and higher education.

Sushma Paul Berlia, co-promoter and president of Apeejay Stya & Svran Group, which among other interests runs a chain of schools and higher educational instututions, said Budget has led emphasis on digitalization and virtual education as a tool towards filling the education gap arisen after the pandemic outbreak. She claimed skilling courses through ITIs, education TV channels in schools, quality digital content and digital university will have a long term affirmagtive impact.