[ad_1]
EDUCATION BUDGET 2023: Some of the education experts shared their views and spoke about their expectations from the last full budget of the Modi 2.0 government ahead of the general elections next year.
Budget 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present the Union Budget 2023 on February 1, 2023 (Wednesday). From promoting EdTech marketing to focusing on infrastructure development for the education sector, the stakeholders in the sector are expecting many bold steps from the government. Some of the education experts shared their views and spoke about their expectations from the last full budget of the Modi 2.0 government ahead of the general elections next year.
INVEST IN A PROGRAM TO TRAIN AND UPSKILL WORKERS
“Building a strong and competitive workforce is key for national growth, and upskilling initiatives are vital to bridging the existing skills gap across industries, particularly in emerging digital technologies. Therefore, the government must invest in programs to train and upskill workers in areas such as data analytics, full-stack software development, and artificial intelligence to help employees stay relevant in th e job market and to meet the growing demand for digital skills in the economy”, shared Krishna Kumar, CEO, Learnbay. For the unversed, Learnbay is a Bengaluru-based EdTech firm. Their primary focus is to offer data science, AI, and ML courses ranging from 180 to 400 hours to working professionals.
LOWER TAX BRACKET ON EDUCATION GOODS
“A lower tax bracket on educational goods and services will greatly encourage edtech entrepreneurship and improve the ease of doing business in the sector. There continues to be a discrepancy between online and traditional learning, with schools being exempt from GST while edtech enterprises continue to pay GST at 18%. Shifting educational products and services to a tax band of 5-12%, as suggested by the Indian Edtech Consortium (IEC), will give the sector a significant and much-needed boost”, Kumar staed.
FOCUS ON INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT FOR EDU SECTOR
Kumar further stated that he expected Budget 2023 to focus on infrastructure development for the education sector, such as improvement of internet connectivity infrastructure for last-mile access, affordable 5G devices, and investments in equipment and technology to support the delivery of training, such as online learning platforms, virtual classrooms, and training centers.
DIGITAL LIBRARY ECOSYSTEM
Speaking to LiveMint, Tarun Arora, CEO and founder of Knimbus said,”Given that Digital driven access is the key theme of NEP 2020, Government should encourage setting up of a Digital Library ecosystem that can work in conjunction with Digital Universities that are being planned. Such digital content repositories will not just aid learners, but also support institutions and educators with classroom learning given ease of access to curated and authentic content.”
EDUCATION BUDGET: WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR
In 2022, the education budget focused mainly on digital education, the creation of a digital university, job creation, agricultural universities, skill development of programmers, etc. The Finance Minister had announced that the government will establish Digital University to provide access to students across the country for world-class quality universal education with personalised learning experience at their doorsteps. She further added that this will be made available in different Indian languages and ICT formats.
[ad_2]
Source link
