BUDGET 2022

Education sector seeks funds for infrastructure

IMD’s World Competitiveness ranking places India’s education sector at a 43 out of 64 countries

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

23.01.2022

Educators and EdTech startups expect government to spend more on access to education, and reduce taxation Through the upcoming budget, the educators hope that the government will focus on addressing the inequalities in access to education and improvement of digital infrastructure. They say that it is imperative to lessen the financial burden on parents and students, and it is equally important to give sops to startups to boost skilling infrastructure to bridge education-employability gap. Better learning facilities PC Chhabra, executive director, Sanskriti University, says, “In the past year, education allocation budget was Rs 93,223 crores, whichwas reducedby 6%as compared to the year before. This year, we are expecting an increased by 10%. To increase connectivity, the government should announce programmes to boost 5G devices at an affordable rate to boost e-learning infrastructure. Having a laptop is the minimum requirement for the students and teachers to either record or impart live instructions. We are also expecting academic institutions to be given concessions for collaborating with industry to provide students with the necessary skills and competencies. ” Ajeenkya DY Patil, chairman , DY Patil Group, that runs Ajeenkya DYPatil University and D Y Patil International School, says “We would welcome measures liketax relief,ease ofraising capital forthe EdTech sector, and also investments in the internet connectivity and reach to enhance our digital infrastructure. ”

Shweta Sastri, managing director, Canadian International School, says, “The current budgetary allocation for education in our country is less compared to other developed countries. The increased allocation of funds will also ensure better quality government schools that educate the majority of children in India. We also expect the government to facilitate schemes to improve the infrastructure in rural areas by providing better lear- ning facilities, adequate training and upskilling to the teachers, enabling them to be well-versedwith modern teaching aids and tools. ”

Reduce costs

Rohan Prem Sagar, joint secretary, Dayanand Sagar Institutions, says, “In order to adapt to the online model of education, parents and educational institutions have spent substantially on  numerous gadgets, including laptops and tablets, as well as software, IT infrastructure, servers, and data  protection in the previous months.

Akhil Shahani, managing director, Thadomal Shahani Centre for Management, Shahani Group and CEO,  Ask. Careers  , says, “IMD's World Competitiveness ranking places India’s education sector at43 out of 64 countries, with only 45% of all graduates  being considered employable. The union budget can facilitate this by reducing the GST rate for providing educational technology and ancillary services  from 18% to at least 5%.

Anish Srikrishna, CEO, Times Professional Learning,  says, “The focus of this  budget from an education standpoint should be to give impe- tus to NEP initiatives to enhance the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), boost employability.

Varun Chopra, CEO, Eduvanz, says that India has seen unprecedented growth in the EdTech and FinTech sectors in the past few years. “We hope that this year’s budget will include allowances for non-banking finance companies, helping us to expand and maintain cash liquidity in this competitive ecosystem,” he adds. Fewer taxes Narayan Mahadevan, founder, BridgeLabz, an IP-driven incubation lab aimed at nurturing Engineering talent, says, “By 2030, India will have the largest pool of workable population globally, even surpassing China. We expect that in the budget 2022-23, the government to recognise and encourage startups to not only focus on skill development but also to ensure that jobs are 100% guaranteed. We would also like the government to recognise Skill-to-Job as a separate category and encourage startups with some schemes or tax rebates. ”

Gaurav Vohra, chief business officer, UNext Learning, explains, “The government has been emphasising the setting up of National Digital Educational Architecture (NDEAR) and is focussing on the development of digital infrastructure for the implementation of NEP 2020. ”