P.C. Chhabra- Executive Director, Sanskriti University
The Union Budget for 2021-2022 is a much-awaited one as it will be the first since the New Education Policy was introduced last year. The Union budget 2021 should give guidelines on the ‘NEP implementation plan’ and further strengthen the focus and investment in Edu-tech to enhance experiential and immersive learning and reinforce the skill development process at par with the global education standards. The stakeholders are eyeing the Budget 2021 with a lot of expectations as the government has already signalled allocation of 6% of the GDP towards education. Education in India needs to be recognized as an equalizer as a crucial instrument that can bridge the socio-economic divide in our country. Income inequality in India stems from the enormous disparity in learning outcomes after completion of education. And, to address this gap, reallocation of resources from other sectors need to be made and re-routed towards building a level-playing field for all students. Budget 2021 needs to focus on investments towards building a robust system of accountability, checks, and balances to level-up the delivery and quality of higher education. We expect the government to introduce a framework for formalizing the online education coupling it with exhaustive provisions for bridging the digital divide between both ends of the education value chain.
Som Sharma Founder & Director Edu Brain Group
The education sector is facing drastic challenges due to the ongoing pandemic and budget FY 2021 is going to play a pivotal role in reviving the education system. The Education sector witnessed a key development last year in form of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) which was unveiled by the Narendra Modi government to bring reforms. The New Education Policy (NEP-2020) brought aggressive changes in the Higher Education System of our country – provided flexibility in the learning curve, emphasized on conceptual understanding and blended learning. These factors are essential for enumerating education, employment and skills development. To bridge the digital divide and strengthen India’s promising edtech, startup ecosystem, we expect the government to provide better internet infrastructure, robust data protection systems and more tax exemptions in the upcoming Union Budget.
Tarun Goel Director of TDII – The Design Institute of India
Due to the ongoing pandemic, the education sector has been facing innumerable challenges & students of all ages have gone through a rough patch in terms of loss of valuable classroom learning & interacting, So the hopes/expectations are that the 2021-22 budget is going to play a significant role in reviving the education system and setting the pace for our new National Education Policy (NEP) for the development of the education sector in India.1) setting up bank schemes for providing student loans in private education sector.2) Providing financial support to private sector institutions to facilitate low-cost and zero cost loans to students.3) The Government should increase the expenditure on education in the upcoming budget to focus on the execution of the new policy, quality of education and skill development which will further pave ways for more skilled jobs. 4) Setting up an organisation to regulate & support private education colleges & institutes (like UGC) to facilitate structural development in private education. 5) Set up an organisation to provide funds & facilities for upgradation of infrastructure of public & private higher education and professional institutions to provide world class education to students of all sections & strata’s of our country. 6) providing funds for creating a centralized training & placement organisation to provide skilled jobs to more & more students.
