Dharmendra Pradhan lauds Budget 2022 as inclusive, forward-looking and aspirational

The Education Minister hails the record budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Education of Rs 104277.72 crore in the FY 2022-23. The budgetary allocation witnessed a jump of 11.86 per cent which is Rs 11053.41 crore from FY 2021-to 22.

Expressing his gratitude to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he said that the Budget has made several direct interventions like announcing the setting up of a Digital University, allowing foreign universities to run courses in GIFT City, launching of DESH-Stack e-portal and aligning Skill Qualification Framework with industry requirements.

These interventions will improve and strengthen the education and skilling ecosystems in the country.

Pradhan highlighted the efforts of the Ministry to universalize quality education which will gain strength with the setting up of a Digital University and expansion of One Class-One TV Channel programme of PM e-VIDYA from 12 to 200 TV channels.

The union minister said that the digital university will be built on a networked hub-spoke model, with the collaboration of the best public universities and institutions in the country and it will provide access to students across the country to world-class quality universal education at their doorsteps in different Indian languages.

Expansion of one class-one TV channel programme will enable all states to provide quality supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12, he added.

The Budget 2022 has announced that 750 virtual labs in science and mathematics, and 75 e-labs for skilling with the simulated learning environment are to be set up in 2022-23.

Extensive use of technology will be vital in providing access to quality education for all children.

Integration of technology in the teaching-learning process will be the game-changer in future as it will empower teachers, provide them autonomy, and promote innovative pedagogies that will ultimately lead to improvement in the learning outcomes of children.

Teachers are required to be abreast and hands-on with technological tools. For this purpose, and to augment their capacities, teachers will be encouraged to develop quality e-content in different languages and different subjects so that any teacher or student can access the content from anywhere and get benefitted.

A competitive mechanism to promote the development of quality e-content by the teachers will be created to ensure empowered teachers and curious students.

In order to ensure a stimulating learning environment and appropriate resources conducive to learning, the concept of digital teachers in all spoken languages will be developed.

Learner facing e-content will be developed in innovative teaching formats such that all content is coherent with all devices, that is, the same content can be made simultaneously available online, on TV and on the radio.

"As we are celebrating 75 years of independence and looking forward to building a future generation equipped with 21st-century skills, the digital teachers in all languages and through all possible digital modes (internet-based, mobile-based, TV, radio) will ensure equitable access to the highest-quality education for all learners regardless of their socio-economic background," Pradhan said.

The Digital teacher concept will also help in creating a digitally empowered society.

In connection with the focus on expanding digital education, the minister also welcomed the emphasis that Budget 2022 has placed on enhancing digital infrastructure in rural areas and the announcement of the Vibrant Villages Programme under which DTH access will be provided to Doordarshan and educational channels for villages in the northern border areas.

The announcement for setting up animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics (AVGC) promotion task force to realize the potential of this sector is also a very welcome step. In addition to promoting the industry, this will also help in experiential learning.Similarly, the decision to develop five existing academic institutions in different regions as centres of excellence in urban planning is a very forward-looking step.

These centres will be provided endowment funds of Rs 250 crore each for developing India specific knowledge in urban planning and design. AICTE will take the lead to improve syllabi, quality and access to urban planning courses in other institutions.

The Budget 2022 has also announced that world-class foreign universities and institutions will be allowed in the GIFT City to offer courses in various subjects like Financial Management, FinTech, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The skilling sector is poised for major transformation, and Budget 2022 will give a fillip to this process by improving the employability of our students. The skill sector is to be reoriented to promote continuous skilling avenues, sustainability, and employability, and the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) will be aligned with dynamic industry needs.

The launch of Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood - the DESH-Stack e-portal- will empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through online training.

It will also provide API-based trusted skill credentials, payment and discovery layers to find relevant jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. Promoting start-ups to facilitate 'Drone Shakti' and for Drone-As-A-Service will create many employment opportunities. To prepare our youth for this, the required courses for skilling will be started in select ITIs, in all states,

The emphasis on the PM Gati Shakti programme and PLI programmes in Budget 2022 is especially welcomed as these will create huge job opportunities for our youth.

60 lakh new jobs are expected to be created under the productivity linked incentive scheme in 14 sectors. This will pave the way for young India to realize its aspirations.

The education ecosystem will also be prepared to help this initiative by developing the necessary curriculum. In this direction, the Skill Hub Initiative of MoE and MSDE will be launched in 5000 skill centres during the next year.

( With inputs from ANI )

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