New Delhi, 1 February 2022 – Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Education Budget 2022 today, 1 February 2022. Since the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the requirement to upgrade India’s digital education, the Union Budget 2022 focused majorly on boosting digital education to impart supplementary teaching to students who have suffered a loss of learning during the pandemic. These students include those from government schools, rural areas, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other weaker sections of the society.
From expanding the present PM eVidya Scheme and the launching of a Digital University to an introduction of high-quality e-content and a national mental health program, read the key highlights of India’s Education Budget 2022 here.
Education Budget 2022 – Key Highlights
- One Class One TV Channel: The government will be launching nearly 200 TV channels that will be teaching students of classes 1 to 12 in regional languages. These channels will be set up to counter the loss of learning that has happened throughout India amidst the pandemic. To do so, the 12 channels that are currently under the PM eVidya Scheme will be expanded to 200.
- Digital University: The government will be developing and launching a digital university that will provide a personalized learning experience to students and provide access to a world-class education at their doorsteps. The university will provide content in several regional languages for ease of learning.
- Foreign Courses on Financial Technology: World-class universities will be allowed to offer courses in India in the domain of financial services and technology. Other than that, foreign universities will be set up in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT city) to provide courses in financial management, financial technology, mathematics, among others.
- Skill Programmes: Several programmes will be launched for the skilling, upskilling, and reskilling of India’s youth. These will be made available via the Digital DESH e-portal, which will be launched soon.
- Multilingual E-Content: High-quality e-content will be made available in every language (English, Hindi, and all other regional languages of India). This will be done to empower students through easily accessible study material and to train teachers using digital tools.
- Centres of Excellence: A total of five centres of excellence will be set up with an endowment fund of INR 250 crore each for urban planning courses. These courses will help in urban sector development across the nation.
- Research and Development: Academic institutes will be supported for research and development through the Defence Budget. This will be done to enable students to carry out advanced research projects.
- National Mental Health Program: A national-level mental health program will be launched to spread awareness about the psychological issues that students in India currently face. Students will be acquainted with the need for mental health and taught how to tackle the issues they face.
- Agriculture University Syllabus Revision: The curriculum in agriculture universities will be revised to accommodate the need for natural, zero-budget organic farming. This will be done to support modern-day agriculture without compromising land/soil quality in India.
