The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, has announced that 750 virtual labs in science and mathematics and 75 e-labs for skilling with simulated learning environment are to be set-up in 2022-23.
Lauding the inititaives announced by the Finance Minister, the Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan said that extensive use of technology will be vital in providing access to quality education for all children.
Integration of technology in teaching-learning process will be the gamechanger in future as it will empower teachers, provide them autonomy, and promote innovative pedagogies that will ultimately lead to the improvement in 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 development of quality e-content by the teachers will be created to ensure empowered teachers and curious students, he added.
In order to ensure 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 through online, on TV and on radio. As we are celebrating 75 years of independence and looking forward to build 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. The Digital teacher concept will also help in creating a digitally empowered society.
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In connection with the focus on expanding digital education, the Education Minister also welcomed the emphasis that the Budget 2022 has placed on enhancing digital infrastructure in rural areas and the announcement of 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 an animation, visual effects, gaming, and comic (AVGC) promotion task force to realise the potential of this sector is also a very welcome step. In addition to promoting the industry, this will also help in experiential learning.
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 the Budget 2022 will give fillip to this process by improving 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.
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The launch of Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood – the DESH-Stack e-portal– will empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through on-line 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 Co-Founder of ConnectEd, Lehar Tawde said, “Right to Education was adopted by Government of India a long time ago. With Budget 2022, we see the government providing students with Right to Quality Education. We are particularly ecstatic to note that the Government seeks to take fiber-based internet connection to every village in India by 2023 and expand its ‘One Class, One Channel’ program, as it will enable under-served students in Bharat to access quality education; much like their privileged counterparts across India. Creation of 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, and 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 an age where students across India are equipped to contribute to the India growth story, irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds.”