Education market reactions on Budget 2022-23: As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday made an announcement outlining the economic growth for India over the next 25 years.
Here’s what the Education sector experts are saying about the Union Budget 2022:
Ashish Jhalani, MD, Square Panda India:
The reformist intent of this budget is clear. We welcome the focus of The Union Budget 2022 on digital learning, especially after the prolonged learning losses of the past 2 years have impacted students’ academic performance. This was much needed to strengthen the digital learning ecosystem on a mission mode.
The setting up of digital universities, availability of high quality regional e-content, and ‘One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA will also help facilitate improved learning outcomes.
As the country with the highest number of school-goers in the world, we welcome the announcement of the creation of 2 lakh Saksham Anganwadi, which will surely provide an impetus for early childhood development. The emphasis on improved infrastructure, training, and use of audiovisual aids for teaching will help upskilling and capacity building programmes for teachers, as they are a central pillar of the education ecosystem.
Pratham Barot, Co-Founder and CEO, Zell Education:
With the rise in online education and the constant need to upskill, the government’s decision to provide international education for courses in financial management and fin-tech is truly a game changer. India today faces a major talent gap when it comes to qualified finance professionals. With the constant increase in demand for such professionals, this announcement will allow Indian students to study international courses in a more centralised and efficient manner. This is a win-win for both companies and students as pursuing these courses will also allow students to have higher earning potential post graduation to kick start their career with the right education to make them job ready.
Divya Tej Pereira, Founder, Tutrrd:
It is very promising to see that education has found a prominent place in this year’s budget. The government’s decision to introduce a digital university with an aim to provide quality e-content is definitely a forward looking proposition aligned with improving learning and teaching methods during the second year of the pandemic. Also the union budget’s introduction to provide digital training for teachers while focusing on personalisation by using the hub and spoke method will definitely be a game changer in the learning methods for students. This is a significant move for the edtech industry as it pushes it towards Edtech 3.0. With digital education being the core of the conversation this year, edtechs that provide personalised learning to students to be better equipped will only help boost this vision that has been laid down in this budget. Additionally the PM’s eVidya program which is set to provide supplementary education in regional languages will sure be instrumental in contributing towards the major government priority of inclusive development of the country’s education sector.
Dominic Prabhu, Founder, Pappaya Lite:
Budget 2022 is advancing our education system. With the expansion of PM e-Vidya to 200 TV channels, high-quality education content to broadcast on all media, and introducing digital teachers & establishment of the digital university across the country are all beneficial steps in order to provide ease to access quality education at the doorsteps of the students across the entire country.
Prof (Dr.) Sanjiv Marwah, Director, JK Business School:
“When the balance sheet of the country is expanded,can capes be far behind”It is a growth oriented budget with emphasis on ‘Make in India’.
The budget 2022 is a revolutionary budget, with digitalization, deep-tech, entrepreneurship as the key economic drivers. The budget 2022 holds the potential to give necessary push to the vision of Naya Bharat.
Abhishek Malhotra, Managing Partner, TMT Law Practice:
Digital University, once set up in the hub and spoke model could also lead to generation of employment and boosting vocational jobs.
Ankit Maggu, Co-Founder, Geekster:
“The biggest challenge that our youth face is the lack of in-demand skills, the reason for this is that our higher education has not been able to adapt as per the changing Industry requirements. The new age entrepreneurs are trying to address this gap through different models making skill based education accessible to the masses but a lot more needs to be done. The launch of digital university is a great step, as it will increase the penetration of quality education even in the remotest areas at affordable price points.
Additionally, Digital DESH e-portal will help further refine the skills of the youth making them more employable and will reduce the skill gap, benefiting both – jobseekers, and employers. “
Himanshu Tyagi, CEO & Founder of Digikull:
“The long prevailing skill gap in the market was a challenge for both- the recruiters, and youth of the nation too. With the launch of Digital DESH e-portal we can expect to fill in this gap to a certain extent. The interesting part is, that following the lockdown, adoption of digital medium had increased. The budget has leveraged this shift in behaviour to add to the ultimate aim of digital India. If the execution is right, we can gradullary expect digital learning to become the primary education system 5 years down the line,”
Dr. Latika Chaudhary, Associate Dean – Outreach & Operations The Design Village (TDV):
Education sector was one of the most impacted sectors because of the pandemic and we were expecting support from the Government. We were expecting flexible and low interest education loans which is the same as before but we are happy with the PM eVidya Scheme and launch of Digital University. E Green University, One Class One TV Channel, Digital University is a good step towards digital India and training teachers to use better in teaching outcomes was a necessary step. 5 Centres of Excellence to be set with an endowment fund of Rs. 250 crore each for Urban Planning courses that would assist in Urban Sector Development, encouragement of academic Institutes and Research and Development will be supported for ambit of Defence Budget. The plus point of this budget is more focussed on digitalisation of education which will strengthen the growth of ed-tech
Vipul Agarwal, Co-founder, unlu:
“It’s great to see that the budget allocates significant funds to education and places a strong emphasis on empowering teachers through digitization. The government is concentrating on digitization to expand education penetration and access across the country, as seen by the extension of PM E-Vidya to 200 channels and the construction of a digital university. To make up for the education shortfall during the last two years, the Finance Minister has proposed new TV channels for extra teaching (PM eVidya). This is little in comparison to the huge learning loss that our children have experienced. Both the One-Class-One channel through PM eVidya for supplementary education in regional languages and fibre optic connectivity for last-mile digital reach in communities are important for rural development.
Brijesh Samantaray, Co-founder at Propelld:
The past two years have been a challenge for students due to the major shuffling of education from offline to online. It’s great to see this year’s budget considering this digital transformation as one of the priorities. This digital transformation would require schools and offline educational institutions to have better resources, which opens a gate full of opportunities for the fintech financial players.
Sumeet Mehta, Co-founder and CEO, LEAD:
Overall, this has been a progressive budget as it accelerates the government’s efforts towards inclusive and sustainable development. As an educator, I welcome the emphasis on creating digital and free-to-air channels of education. However, at the same time, the budget appears to circumvent physical schooling. I sincerely hope that is not the case. While online learning was inevitable due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it would never be as effective as offline learning, which brings out the best in students in terms of learning outcome and performance. Online education can at best only play a supplementary role in education. I would have also loved to see a greater focus on improving the teaching and learning processes in our schools vis-a-vis infrastructure and tech-enabled curriculum. Going forward, I hope there will be policy changes in that direction.”
Shashank Patidar, Co- Founder, WeSkill:
“The temporary closure of schools has certainly impacted learning, especially for students in non-urban areas, resulting in loss of continuity in academics. The PM eVidya Scheme announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is an excellent initiative by the government. Besides, the expansion of the ‘One Class One TV Channel’ programme to 200 TV channels will allow state governments to provide students with high-quality education in their respective regional languages. At WeSkill, we feel that upskilling the youth, who are the future professionals, is the need of the hour, and we are happy with the initiatives taken by the government to facilitate the same. However, we would have also liked to see more steps from the government in terms of better implementation of the NEP (National Education Policy) with new directives in the academic year. Nonetheless, this year’s Budget announcements will offer every student across India access to quality education, provided the measures are implemented effectively.”
Divyesh Sindhwaad, Regional Vice President, Skillsoft:
We welcome the government’s focus on digital learning in this year’s budget. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the Centre’s plan to establish a Digital University. This initiative will definitely boost awareness and acceptance of e-learning across India’s socio-economic landscape. Such a platform promises world-class education to students and working professionals looking at building skills to find meaningful employment and further their careers.
While the importance of e-learning has been established by the 2022-23 Union Budget, we look forward to the Government of India focusing on improving internet connectivity and infrastructure to support digital learning, and also slash GST rates on e-learning products to ensure new programs are accessible to more people. Today’s announcements paint a positive picture for the overall e-learning and Ed Tech space, and we foresee hypergrowth on the horizon for the industry.
Aneesh Rayancha, Co-founder, AppyHigh:
“It is heartening to know that the government’s focus remains on the value that skilling programs add to the fabric of our economy. Today India is on its way to become a force to reckon with, in highly skilled areas such as computer science, data science, programming, etc. It will be interesting to watch the proposed reorientation of skilling programs and how these can play a role in elevating the skill set of our youth in these disciplines. As an Indian internet technology company, availability of quality skilled talent is one of the greatest strategic advantages that we can have.”
Vaibhav Singh, Co-founder, Leap Scholar:
The 2022 budget is promising for the education sector in promoting digital learning. Initiatives announced like the PM e-Vidya programme and setting up of a digital university will strengthen the broader vision – accessibility of education for all. The proposal to roll out e-passports is a welcoming gesture as it will enable a seamless experience for the travelling population, especially the large section of students flying abroad for their studies. Extended tax benefits for startups announced in the budget will further boost the ecosystem and drive the economy’s growth”
Anand Achyut, CEO and Founder, Wonderslate:
We welcome the announcements made by the Honourable Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2022-23. There is a strict need to mitigate the loss caused by the pandemic and this can be only made possible by building a robust digital infrastructure for education. The decision to expand the benefits of the PM e-VIDYA initiative is a laudable step and will make online education accessible and available for all.
The proposal of launching a digital university for a better digital learning experience with a hub and spoke model will do wonders to make syllabus-based tech education easy, convenient and hassle-free. This will also provide personalised, result-oriented, skill-based learning to students to make them job-ready. Additionally, the proposal of making e-content available in regional languages will be a big support in making online learning easy for students in remote or rural areas. The scaling up of one class-one channel to 200 channels will ensure students get supplementary education in their local languages and this is definitely an encouraging step especially for the underprivileged children. There is a need to bridge the digital divide in the country and it is great to see the Government making efforts for this.
Preethi Vickram, Founder, Tapas Education:
Initiatives such as setting up of the Digital University, expanding from 12 to 200 channels and giving impetus to content in regional languages are all very welcome and shows a progressive thinking for further disruptions that the pandemic may cause. While the overall spend has increased, it appears to be more towards higher education and school education is still left wanting more. The NEP 2020 has clearly emphasised the importance of early years education. Budget 2022 has allocated funds towards development of 2 lakh Anganwadis to promote ‘Nari Shakti’ and hopefully this will be utilised to create better learning programs for the 0-6 years as well. Overall, the allocation towards the education sector seems to be driven by investment in technology that will hopefully translate into better reach and wider implementation of the NEP vision.
Rajesh Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, Kalvi:
The focus on digital learning in the Union Budget 2022-23 is the need of the hour and we thank the Honourable Finance Minister for taking positive steps in this direction. The pandemic has increased the need for making digital learning accessible for all to provide world-class education to students. The content delivery platforms via the internet, TV, and smartphones will greatly benefit students across the country. Digital learning also has the scope to enhance the academic performance of students if done right especially in the higher education space. There is a need to make education more industry relevant and students must be adept in the latest technology.
Siddhartha Gupta, CEO, Mercer Mettl:
Aligning Skill programs with Industry is very positive news. Covid has taken the wind out of the Skilling initiatives of GOI over the last 2 years and there was a need to promote continuous skilling avenues, sustainability, and employability. Another welcome move is to re-look the national skill qualification framework (NSQF). This will further improve the Skill levels of youth and their ability to get jobs. We are proud of our partnership with GOI on Digital Literacy.
Budget speaks about empowering citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through online training. It will also provide API-based trusted skill credentials, payment, and discovery to find relevant jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. We have been working on Digital Credentials and would love to expand this to Skill credentials through Digital means as well and bridge the gap between Education and Industry. The launch of Digital University recognizes the role Tech would play in keeping education disruption less in the future. An announcement in this direction augurs well for the Ed Tech startups which have recognized this gap and are trying to innovate and transform the segment”
Akshay Chaturvedi, Founder & CEO, Leverage Edu:
I believe the 2022 budget is focused around smart digital expenditures in not just education, but across sectors! A very forward-looking budget in my opinion that will enable startups to take lead in India’s next phase of development. Introduction of the e-passport facility will decrease friction in the immigration process and I look forward to Indians getting access to such world-class tech. Lastly, steps like capping off long-term capital gains at 15% clearly position this as a document which heard and implemented feedback from all quarters, and that’s amazing!”
Rishabh Khanna, Cognitive Scientist, Co-founder, Suraasa:
Accessibility to quality learning is a huge challenge for the country, especially in the digital mode of delivery. I think that the Digital University and ‘One Class One TV Channel’ are very thought through ideas to ensure that no children are left behind due to language, resource, or digital barriers. Skilling and Upskilling have been the talk of the EdTech town for the longest time (for all the right reasons) and it’s great to see the government working towards that too.
The FM also talked about teachers being trained to be able to deliver quality learning outcomes to students. I think that is one of the most important components of the education system since a trained teacher has the potential to transform the lives of many children and create impact at scale. I am excited to witness the implementation of proposed initiatives and how they impact education across the country”
Piyush Bhartiya, Co-Founder & CEO of Admitkard:
“The budget has been very much in line with the latest trends and changing paradigm in the education system. We are glad that the government is promoting digital education in India. The budget mentioned the launch of a nationwide digital university, which might be the answer to the long prevailing gaps in the higher education system. What initially started as a result of the global lockdown, has now been acknowledged as the probable solution to the difficulty of accessing higher education in the country where 65% of the population resides in the rural region. Simultaneously, stressing on Higher education will reflect in the next generation’s culture and quality of skill-set in the employment market.
The Finance statement 2022-2023 presented by the Hon’ble FM, focuses on making Intellectual development accessible and affordable through tech and is highly appreciated by the education sector. The current budget placed a strong emphasis on technology and digital transformation in key sectors such as education. Students around the country will have access to world-class universal education with tailored learning experiences right at their doorstep, thanks to a focus on digital education and skilling programs.
Abhinav Mital, Founder of The WorldGrad:
This will be offered in a variety of Indian languages as well as ICT formats. A network hub and spoke approach will be used to construct the university. When it comes to advantages, High-quality e-content will be developed for dissemination via the internet in all spoken languages. Teachers would be empowered and equipped with digital teaching tools to support improved learning through a competitive system for the development of high-quality e-content. These processes can result in significant growth in the education sector, as well as other aspects of the economy such as Neobanks, transportation, and Fintech.
Mahalakshmi Satish, Director, Prodigy Education:
What stands out to us is the boost to digital infrastructure across the nation through PPP mode – optic fibre networks, 5G spectrum and other services which can be a game changer in the level of internet penetration across tier 3 cities and towns – giving edtech the necessary boost in access and affordability. Also, with PPP, chances are that the private component of the partnerships can help speed up the completion rate of these projects.”
Vaibhav Gupta, Marketing and Alliance Head, iSchoolConnect Technologies Pvt. Ltd.:
The education budget presented by the Hon’ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rightly acknowledges the need for upskilling and opening more conduits for digital learning, both in schools and higher education. With the pandemic further distancing the marginalized students from education, the decision to expand the One Class One TV Channel’ program of the PM evidya from 12 to 200 TV channels is undoubtedly a move to make education accessible to all.
The gaps in education, especially for the underprivileged students, are unfathomable, as these students have lost almost two years of formal education.
Thus, supplementary initiatives to provide extensive learning resources in regional language and the effort to develop high-quality e-content that can be disseminated through various channels will enable students in the rural areas.
Digitization of education has been given a significant thrust in this budget. Be it the promise to set up a Digital DESH e-portal for skilling, reskilling, and upskilling the country’s youth or setting up the Digital University, we laud the government’s resolve to ensure learning opportunities for all.
Rohit Paranjpe, CEO & Co-Founder, SugarBox Networks:
The government’s focus on technology came through very clearly in the Union Budget and it is heartening to note that sectors right from transport to education and banking were viewed with a digital-first approach. In particular, the proposal to connect remote towns, cities and border villages in India through programs like the PM Gati Shakti and the Vibrant Village Program. With a large number of villages in India still lacking internet connectivity, focus on building the digital infrastructure can play a crucial role to empower citizens in the underserved and unserved areas. The application of innovative solutions and these technologies will also go a long way in providing learning and employment opportunities for millions of Indians.”
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