New Delhi, 1 February 2022 – The Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the education budget for the year 2022 today – 1 February 2022. Apart from talking about boosting digital education for students, the minister also emphasised that the government will be focusing on skill development programmes and urban development planning to empower millions of students around the country.
For skill development programs, the government will be launching the DESH-Stack e portal, which will serve as a unified portal to deliver skilling, upskilling, and reskilling programmes. For urban development planning, the government will be providing an endowment fund of INR 250 crores to five centres of excellence that will offer the training.
Education Budget 2022 – Skilling Programmes
As per the Union Budget 2022, the government will be launching skilling programmes and partnerships to promote continuous skilling of India’s youth in different industries and avenues. This will be done to impart a higher level of skill to students and increase the employability of the youth that will be participating in these programmes. The programmes will also focus on upskilling and reskilling of students, so as to ensure an all-around professional skillset in India’s youth.
These programmes will be aligned with the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and will be based on dynamic industry needs. This means that students will be taught the skills that are currently in demand in the market and lead to an increase in the students’ employability.
Note: The budget has also noted that startups in India will be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through varied applications. In select Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) located around India, the required courses for skilling will be started.
Education Budget 2022 – How will Skilling Programmes be Imparted?
These programmes will be imparted with the help of a unified portal called the Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH)-Stack e portal. This portal will be launched in the near future and will deliver skill training through the online mode of education.
The portal will be developed in such a manner that it will provide Application Programming Interface (API)-based trusted skill credentials as well as payment and discovery layers. This means that apart from delivering the training, the portal will also help students find relevant jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in their preferred industries.
Education Budget 2022 – Urban Development Planning
Other than skill programmes, the government will also be launching training centres on urban planning and development. The Union Finister Minster estimates that in the next 25 years, nearly 50% of India will be urbanized. Therefore, this training will facilitate and increase India-specific knowledge in urban planning and design.
The government has decided to set up five centres of excellence across India to deliver certified training in urban planning and design. Each of these centres will be provided an endowment fund of INR 250 crores to develop and deliver the training. Other than that, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will take the lead to improve the syllabus and quality of urban planning courses in other institutions across the country.