Prashant Jain, CEO, Oswaal Books, said, “The vision of the budget is welcoming not only to the current needs but also to the global demands of the future. While there is a clear emphasis on digital education and skilling programs that will boost learning outcomes and methods, the students and teachers who have nearly lost two years of learning and patience due to the pandemic may find the remedy a little delayed. One Class One TV Channel will expand the reach of education to the leisure of homes across the economic divide, and centres of excellence will help focus on quality education than mere figures of literacy.
These are all novel initiatives. But most of them will not see the light of the day for years to come. Presently the government needs to ensure that the existing budget allocated to the School and higher education is done efficiently to overcome the crucial learning loss.”
Mr Manvendra Shukul, the CEO – Lakshya Digital & Governing Council Member – Media & Entertainment Skills Council, said, “AVGC, gaming, in particular, is an industry segment with phenomenal potential for creating jobs as well as revenue for the exchequer. India can easily be a global leader in this space, given the right ecosystem. The creation of the AVGC Task Force is amongst the first steps that need to be taken to capitalize on India’s inherent strength in this space. Selection of the right people from each of the segments of the AVGC will be key to the success of this much-needed initiative.”
Dr Atul Nischal, Founder – Director, International Council for School Leadership, said, “I am delighted that teacher training has become an investment priority in addition to building the educational e-infrastructure by developing quality content and creating channels for mass access. I wholeheartedly welcome the government’s commitment to digital learning as a solution to mend the pandemic-induced losses and achieve the NEP 2020.
There are close to 1 crore school teachers in India who need to be supported with a minimum of 50 hours of quality professional development every year. Without the support of e-Learning, it is impossible to achieve this scale. As a next step, the government should create provisions for not-for-profits, such as International Council for School Leadership, to play an active role in empowering and enabling teachers in India.”
Mr Vinay Sharma, CEO & Director – Convergia (S Chand Publishers), said, “Budget builds on the digital transition in education and takes measures to strengthen and broad base it. One key initiative is the creation of high-quality content which can be delivered through multiple means like mobile, cloud, TV etc., along with professional development of teachers to equip them in using digital tools and pedagogies. It will help towards improving the quality of learning outcomes.
Another significant initiative is creating a digital university that will deliver quality education to students across the country using remote delivery. It can help bridge the skilling and knowledge gap because of limited physical infrastructures like universities and colleges.”
Mr Lavin Mirchandani, Co-Founder- ConnectEd, said, “Right to Education was adopted by the Government of India a long time ago. With Budget 2022, we see the government providing students with the Right to Quality Education. We are particularly ecstatic to note that the government seeks to take fibre-based internet connection to every village in India by 2023 and expand its ‘One Class, One Channel’ program, enabling under-served students in Bharat to access quality education; much like their privileged counterparts across India. Creating quality vernacular educational content is an extremely resource-intensive task, which has kept most EdTech players from serving students reliant on India’s public education system. We have been involved in this space for the last six years. We warmly welcome the government’s foray into this space, as providing quality educational content in local languages to these students is a job no single entity can manage. We hope to work alongside the government and announcements made today to usher in an age where students across India are equipped to contribute to the India growth story, irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds.”
Professor Ramola Kumar, Dean, The Delhi School of Communication, said, “The Union Budget 2022 is rightly focused on reviving the country from the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring sustainable economic growth. The government has made a good effort to get the economy back on track, following the devastating impact of the Covid-19 outbreak, which affected the entire country. We applaud the budget because it appears to be quite forward-thinking in terms of social development and skill development for national upliftment. In a post-covid era, however, some tax relief for the service industry, particularly education, would have been beneficial.”
Ms. Archana Surana, Founder and Director of Arch College of Design and Business, said, “It is a progressive and forward-looking budget as the Finance Minister announced all the major sectors to pave the path of economic recovery and growth. Her recommendations to promote digitization in the education sector shows a futuristic approach towards teaching and learning to make world-class quality education available for all the students. Also, skilling, upskilling and reskilling programmes will help boost entrepreneurship in the country’s youth.”
Mr. Kushang, Co-founder & CEO of SupplyNote, said, “Indeed, the food & beverage industry in India was bleeding, and it required a lifeline to recover. Though the government announced a number of steps for its resurgence, the Budget announcement of extension ECGL service for the sector will play a significant role in empowering the vertical once again and getting it up and running. Additionally, a slight consideration on the investors front on funding the F&B startups could have further accelerated the recovery of the industry. We further expect fundamental policies to revive the vertical in the country.”
Karanvir Singh, Founder & CEO Pariksha- Vernacular Edtech Platform, “Digital education became the familiar way of new-age learning following the lockdown. The new trend has been well accepted by the government as the way forward for upskilling, widening access to education, and strengthening the higher education system in the country. Additionally, the budget too circumscribed the fact that in a diverse nation like India, education can only be delivered by understanding the vernacular requirements of every region. The expansion of ‘One Class One TV Channel’ to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12 will boost the early and secondary education in the country. And the proposed launch of the digital university will simultaneously cater to higher education requirements. Thus, the budget has served end-to-end to raise the country’s education system holistically.”
Mr. Ankit Maggu, Co-Founder, Geekster, said, “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 the digital university is a significant step, as it will increase the penetration of quality education even in the remotest areas at affordable price points.
Additionally, the 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 – job seekers and employers.”
Piyush Bhartiya, Co-Founder and CEO, AdmitKard, said, “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 national digital university, which might answer 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.”
Mr. Himanshu Tyagi, CEO & Founder of Digikull, said, “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 the Digital DESH e-portal, we can expect to fill in this gap to a certain extent. The interesting part is that following the lockdown, the adoption of the 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 gradually expect digital learning to become the primary education system five years down the line.”
