The Union Budget 2022 prioritizes digital education and skill development, aiming to create 60 lakh jobs and improve access to quality education for all, particularly in rural areas. Key initiatives include the launch of a digital university and the expansion of the 'one class, one TV channel' program to enhance learning outcomes and tailor education to individual needs. Experts express optimism about the focus on technology and infrastructure investments to alleviate the educational challenges posed by the pandemic.

1. Digitalisation of Education enthuses experts
The budgetary allocation this year emphasises on the needs of
skilling, reskilling and upskilling citizens. Considering the
situation of the last couple of years which greatly impacted the job
pool and led to declining job opportunities leaving the employable
workforce jobless, this years' union budget focused on creating 60
lakhs jobs. Hence, by prioritising skilling and reorienting skilling
programmes the government will give an immense boost to the
youth of the country to get back to work. I wish the government had
definitive plans to accomplish the same and even encourage such
platforms that work towards skilling from the perspective of
employability and create business models on successful
employment."
— Narayan Mahadevan, Founder, BridgeLabz
Path-breaking initiatives such as digital Desh e-portal, digital
university and e-content portal for teachers serve to provide
comfort on the acceptance of EdTech by the government and the
regulatory bodies. We are pleased with the way Budget 2022 has
focused on leveraging technology to drive deeper penetration into
the market and breaking barriers to provide access to top-quality

2. education to the masses. We expect EdTech businesses catering to
customers in the Tier-II and lower cities to gain significant
momentum in the coming years. Education is one of the key pillars
of growth and youth upskilling is a major contributing factor. With
technology playing a key role in the growth of various sectors, the
availability of a skilled workforce will be critical.
— Nikhil Barshikar, Founder and MD of Imarticus Learning
As per the budget announcement by the FM, there will be the
creation of 60 lac new jobs. Using a capital investment approach to
do so and not making any alterations would work considering how
well the corporate sector is doing. Taking into account the last two
years of the pandemic which has been difficult for all, there wasn't
much for the salaried class/middle class. However, if I must say
so, the goal is to improve things through infrastructure investment
and by not putting money directly in the hands of the consumers.
Introducing Desh Stack e-portal should be a help in creating and
stimulating the environment for skill development. In the last year's
budget NAPS was the fourth pillar and now, announcing Desh Stack
is a step in the right direction."
— Sidharth Agarwal, Director, Spectrum Talent Management
Two important points on education are worth highlighting in the
Union Budget. First is the digital infrastructure: due to the
Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, the whole education system had to
shift online. Teaching every child was the biggest challenge any
school could face. Through one class, one channel, it will become
much easier to reach every child. Second is the up-gradation of
Anganwadis: they are usually taken as daycare centres, but it is a
base for any education system. Equal importance should be given to
early childhood education as well. That said, the implementation of
these measures should be effective and time-bound

3. — Dr Maithili Tambe, CEO, The Academy School, Maharashtra
Right from the Finance Minister's use of a tablet to propose the
budget explained that India is on the path of a digital revolution in
the near future. As expected, the government has well thought to
reduce the digital learning gap between the urban and rural areas by
introducing '1-Class-1-TV channel" covering multiple regional
languages, which will not only counter the learning losses but will
bridge the learning gap. The PM's e-Vidya will be further expanded
from 12 to 200 channels to facilitate supplementary learning. For
the implementation of NEP 2020 great stress is implied on shifting
the focus on Upskilling, therefore the launch of Digital DESH
e-portal for skilling, upskilling and reskilling will be the
key to newer dynamics.
— Dr Silpi Sahoo, Chairperson, SAI International Education Group
2Increased focus on delivering education in regional languages will
help improve learning outcomes by overcoming the language
barrier. The pandemic has brought out the need of using technology
to curate content to individually fit students' learning needs and the
government's focus on delivering personalized learning at the
doorstep is a step towards that. Increased focus on technical skills
in ITIs will help promote the employability of students and further
put India on the world map as the hub of engineering excellence. In
addition to this, the opening of a digital university will not only
improve access towards higher education learning in India, it will
also improve access of international students to Indian education.
—Dr Sridhar G, Founder, Deeksha
The second paperless budget at a time of India's recovery from the
pandemic is neither too populist nor a big bang. The budget focuses
on infrastructure spending, thrust on investments, and Capex
outlay. This is great because it could further fuel demand. The

4. additional infusion of funds to CGTMSE and extension of ECLGS
to March 2023 will be helpful for the MSME segment. It is
encouraging to see the announcement on central bank digital
currency using blockchain as it will further reduce dependency on
cash and could potentially give significant impetus to the digital
payments ecosystem. The announcements concerning the focus on
digital banking are also encouraging.
— Srividya Kannan, Founder, Director, Avaali Solutions Pvt Ltd.
The Union Budget 2022 has accorded the much-needed importance
on digital education and also on enhancing skilling programmes. It
is heartening to learn that the finance minister emphasised the
National Skill Qualification Framework. The skilling initiative
announced in the budget will explore the untapped potential
amongst the Indian youth, boosting their employability with
dynamic industry needs. Training teachers to use better in teaching
outcomes and equip them with necessary skills is the Need of the
Hour. The Digital Ecosystem for Skilling & Livelihood e-portal
provides ease for students to enable the discovery of relevant jobs,
entrepreneurial opportunities among citizens.
— P C Chhabra- Executive Director, Sanskriti
University
I believe announcements around the National Digital Health
Ecosystem in the Union Budget 2022 are a positive step towards
digitization of health records and making data exchange & analysis
easier both for providers as well as patients. If implemented well
can certainly lead to efficiencies in diagnosis & treatment. Digital
health ecosystem can further improve access to quality yet
affordable healthcare for citizens. Further, the National TeleMental
Healthcare Program is rarely mentioned in the budget and thus,
recognizes the importance of mental health in India. Mental
wellbeing has been a taboo subject in our country.

5. — Anurag Khosla, CEO, Health by Aetna
The Union Budget 2022 gives confidence to the business
community as it focuses on building strategic strengths rather than
taking short term and fiscally deviant populist measures. The FM
has avoided giving in to the pressure of the upcoming assembly
elections. Digital inclusiveness for citizens of all classes, increased
capital expenditure on infrastructure, push for logistics betterment
with continued development of railways and highways, boost to the
EV industry with standardized norms for battery swapping,
charging and leasing, and easing the compliance burdens are the
measures that are essential for business growth in India.
— Ravi Saxena, Co-Founder & MD, Wonderchef
The main thing that makes us happy as a design university in the
new budget is that it focuses on animation, gaming, visual effects
and comics and talks about promoting This sector. We recognized
this need 4 years ago and implemented these courses in our
university. It is a matter of delight that provision has been made in
the new budget to promote these sectors by understanding their
potential. Another point is that the budget announcement has
recognized the need for urban planning and urged AICTE to focus
on it. It is a matter of happiness because the way urbanization is
increasing in the country, it is paramount to recognize the need of
urban planning. Being a design university, we understand this need,
so we have also prepared graduates in this sector through courses in
architecture and city planning.

6. — Sanjay Gupta (Vice Chancellor, World University of
Design)
The Union Budget 2022 announced, was a hit and miss for the
education sector. While it has finally addressed and recognised the
learning loss the pandemic has created, the need to develop the
digital infrastructure of the country was not adequately focused on
the budget. The economically disadvantaged students especially in
rural areas have lost essential years of education and the
introduction of supplementary teachers was highly necessary.
Supplementary education can help bridge the gap to a large extent.
The increase of 'One Class One TV Channel' from 12 to 200 TV
Channels to provide supplementary education in regional languages
for classes 1-12 is a welcome move but it will not be enough.
— Dr Mona Lisa Bal, Chairperson, KiiT International
School
The Union Budget 2022 for education is a continuum for potential
GDP growth over the next 25 years and it's a sign of relief that
reflects good governance. Digital DESH, Digital University
initiative, One-Class-One channel through PM eVidya for
supplementary education in regional languages for rural
development and finally with fibre optic connectivity for last-mile
digital reach in villages are indeed progressive initiatives. PPP
(Public Private Partnerships) with Hub-AND-Spoke models
for EdTech companies will certainly harmonize better learning
outcomes, especially on world-class student skill development.
Setting up of 5 COE (Center of Excellence) is a catalyst to
excellence in education on the world stage.

7. — Osborne Dsouza, Director & CEO, Edufiq, EdTech
We are glad to see the government taking progressive steps in the
direction of universal education. The Union Government has taken
the learning losses caused by Covid-19 into cognisance. This is
reflected in the 16% increase in overall outlay for School Education
and 25% increase in the allocation for Samagra Shiksha
Abhiyan (SSA). The focus on multi-lingual dissemination of digital
education in the budget is heartening. We look forward to hearing
more on the competitive framework for development of high-quality
e-content.Local access to good schooling and quality teachers
supported by excellent digital content will significantly increase the
impact of education on students' futures.
— Puneet K, President, The Narayana Group
The education sector was one of the most impacted sectors because
of the pandemic and we were expecting support from the
Government. We were expecting flexible and low-interest education
loans which is the same as before but we are happy with the PM
eVidya Scheme and the launch of Digital University. E Green
University, One Class One TV Channel, Digital University is a good
step towards digital India and training teachers to use better in
teaching outcomes was a necessary step. 5 Centres of Excellence to
be set with an endowment fund of Rs. 250 crore each for Urban
Planning courses that would assist in Urban Sector Development,
encouragement of academic Institutes and Research and
Development will be supported for the ambit of Defence Budget.
— Dr Latika Chaudhary, Associate Dean - Outreach &
Operations, The Design Village (TDV)

8. FM Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget 2022 speech laid impetus on
the importance of digital education and announced a host of
measures for the Covid-19 pandemic-hit education sector. ITIs will
realign the vocational courses as per the industry requirements.
Focus on developing skills in modern-day technology like Artificial
Intelligence etc will help in coping up with industry demand. 23
National Tele mental health centres is a good initiative towards the
awareness of mental health, will help people to recover from stress
and anxiety due to the Pandemic and lockdowns.
— Dr Mukesh Kwatra, Founder Smiling Tree
Very intrigued to know about the setting up of the digital university
and the AVGC task force that the government has announced in the
budget. The budget certainly looks to be forward-looking and
promising as the AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming
and Comics) industry in India happens to be worth about 40
billion dollars today and would be growing to about 60-70 billion
dollars by 2027/28. This is a very welcoming step keeping in
mind the growth in the AVGC industry, augmenting global demands
for quality content and the current resource crunch of trained and
skilled individuals. We sincerely look forward to seeing an
ecosystem being developed for the same. ''
— Dr Manoj Singh, CEO, RUBIKA India
The union budget has ushered in positive measures in the field of
education which will give a boost to the sector especially in the
context of the pandemic. A robust education system is a necessity
for any growing nation and this is all the more important when the
country is aiming to normalize education. The focus on digitization,
bridging the rural-urban gap, and making online education

9. available to all children are all measures that are welcome. Two
years of education regression for school going children meant that
we needed to double-up efforts to bridge education gaps. The
budget 2022 for the education sector rightly focuses on upskilling
and digital learning. The announcement of one class one channel
and expansion to 200 channels under e-vidya will enable the reach
of online education to a vast body of students where online
education is still not widespread.
— Shweta Sastri, Managing Director, Canadian
International School, Bangalore
Education is a unique sector where investment has multiple effects.
The State of education is often a healthy predictor of the country's
overall development and well-being. While quality education holds
the key to inclusive growth, education in India needs to be
recognised as an equaliser especially in the context of the pandemic.
It is also a crucial instrument that can bridge the socio-economic
divide in our country. Establishing a Digital university and over 200
channels covering multiple regional languages under the One class,
one TV channel' program are two very innovative and path-breaking
initiatives that will enable students across the country to access
quality education far and wide through the hub and spoke model.
— Niru Agarwal, Trustee, Greenwood High International
School
Union Budget 2022 has given the education system to nourish all
the children while sitting at home in this Covid-19 era, launching
of eVidya for school children will bridge the education gap. This
will make the education sector back to work again through digital
learning and the establishment of a digital university, giving
students an opportunity towards skill development as well. The
launch of the digital university under the PM scheme will make the
young generation access world-class quality education and this will

10. make students make their careers stronger and better. The skill
development programme will help our youth to enhance their skills
and make their name in their field.
– Dr Neelima Kamrah, Principal of KIIT World School,
Gurugram
The State of education is often a healthy predictor of the country's
overall development and well-being. Quality education holds the
key to inclusive growth and education in India needs to be
recognised as an equalizer especially in the context of the pandemic.
This year's budget will bring a revolutionary change to the
education sector as it can support the capacity building of teachers
and school leaders across the country. Investing in teacher
education through the training of teacher educators and
implementation of robust institutions for teacher training and
education will create a high-quality education system in the
country. Education is also a crucial instrument that can bridge the
socio-economic divide in our country.
— Dr Tristha Ramamurthy, Founder & Managing Director,
Ekya Schools, and Provost, CMR University.
As the budget encourages skills development & and digitization.
Reskilling and Upskilling will be key to getting students ready for
digital jobs. Global trends suggest the evolution of the creator's
economy. Solopreneurship and freelancing will be a big trend in the
future. Digital and creators' skills can uplift many young job seekers
and get them ready to be meaningfully employed without leaving
their cities or villages. We need to focus on workplace experiences
along with skilling, re-skilling and upskilling. This will drive the
creators economy in India… Read More