Online education seems to be the definitive way forward, if the essentials of the education budget are to be unpacked. The highlight of the education budget, unveiled by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, happens to be the establishment of a digital university which would provide access to students across the country for "world-class quality universal education with personalised learning experience at their doorsteps." This will be made available in different Indian languages and ICT formats. The university will be built on a networked hub-spoke model. There are talks about "digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood – the DESH-stack e-portal" and "‘one class-one TV channel’ programme of PM eVIDYA expanding from 12 to 200 TV channels," to make up for the loss of learning in school students in the last two years.
However, experts wonder if there is too much emphasis on online education. "Anyone who has visited schools in rural areas knows how online education isn't the solution. Even in the biggest metros, keeping children's retention on online/digital education is hard and there are also important elements of socialisation that in-person education provides. Imagine what the situation is like in government schools where even as per official data 19 per cent of government schools don't even have electricity," says Avani Kapur, a Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, where she leads Accountability Initiative, a research group focussed on transparency and accountability in governance. "The biggest challenge for education is the urgent need to address the loss of learning due to school closures. That requires schools firstly to open, more funds to bring back children into schools and also the children who have moved away from private schools due to not being able to pay the fees. It is unclear how these are being addressed," says Kapur
The Budget estimates for 2022-23 show that the government is set to spend Rs 1,04,277.72 crore on education in this coming fiscal year. This is a big jump from last year when the allocation was for Rs 93,224 crore (BE) in the 2021-22 budget. While this is a definitely a leg up, and might help meet some of the ground requirements to kick-start the operationalisation of NEP in earnest, it is still wanting. "This year, the budget for ministry of education increased by 18 per cent compared to the revised estimates of last year and those for Samagra Shiksha, the flagship centrally sponsored scheme for school education, by 20 per cent. While this is promising, it remains below even the demand by the ministry. In 2021-22 for instance, while the ministry had demanded Rs. 57,914 crore for the scheme, revised allocations were only 52 per cent of this (lower than even the initial estimate announced last year)," says Kapur.
There is disappointment on how bringing about a qualitative change in the public education system is being thought through. "The finance minister has increased budgetary allocation in online education (Digital University) and TV based education (PM e-Vidya). This has to run against the reality that barely 8 per cent of rural students and 23 per cent of urban students have access to internet," says Professor Tarun Jain, associate professor of Economics at IIM Ahmedabad. "Even when students have internet access, the quality of online education remains poor. We have to benchmark the budget commitments against the aspirations of the Indian people. High quality education is both a critical component of what young people hope for, and also have some of the highest returns on investment in the economy. Thus, the government should consider boosting investments in public education considerably," said Jain.
Publishing mavens too are not very happy, with their expectations of concessions in the book publishing industry ignored. "Like any other field, the publishing industry was severely affected during the pandemic. The cost of light paper used in the publication of books has increased by more than 30 per cent. The prices of essential raw materials related to printing and binding of books have also increased by more than 25 per cent. All this increase has happened only in the Corona period. Despite these difficulties, the publishing world played the role of a dedicated corona warrior in keeping people connected to books during the pandemic and keeping them away from loneliness and mental stress. It is still playing its role to its full potential. But it urgently needs concessions and cooperation," said Ashok Maheshwari, managing director of Rajkamal Prakashan Group, one of the leading publishing houses.