Budget 2023: Need for focus on higher education, Digital University still in cold storage

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the country's general budget on February 1. The education sector, which is falling victim to the apathy of the government, also has a lot of hopes. Especially to promote online education, the government should also focus on digital university.

The education sector also has high hopes for the budget to be presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 . The education sector has not yet received the budget that was recommended in the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP). This sector is still waiting for a budget of at least 6 percent of GDP, although this has not happened in the previous budgets. Now when the budget is going to be presented next week, then the demand has started to allocate at least 6 percent of the budget to the education sector. If the education sector gets more budget in the budget than before and it is brought closer to six percent, then it can help in rejuvenating the country's education system.

Experts believe that in view of the target of 50 percent of the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GIR) by 2035, the government should give more expansion to the Higher Education system. The government should work fast on higher education. Along with this, there is also a need to work on the flexibility of higher education so that it becomes more accessible to the students. This is also mentioned in the National Education Policy 2020. In the education policy, emphasis has also been laid on making the entry and exit system simple and easy in the country's higher education.

If experts are to be believed, the government can make some provisions in the budget to implement the National Education Policy 2020. Especially in order to implement its previous announcements like Digital University, the government can increase the budget for education. Digital University in India is being described as a big change in the education system of the country. This would mean that the digital university would play the role of the institution that would lay the ground rules for identifying and recognizing stackable courses that could lead to a nano-degree and a diploma or degree course.

Digital University can change the country's education system

Digital University should have provision for courses like recognized bank and stack credit. If the education sector gets a better budget, then it can prove to be a milestone for the digital university. If this university starts, then students can get a chance to study according to their time and circumstances. Along with this, emphasis should be given to the existing higher education institutions of the country to make stackable courses. Some have created unique courses that perfectly fit the industry as well as the future, but can be effectively brought into the mainstream. It is not that stackable courses are not popular, but they need to be brought into mainstream education.

Can insist on starting stackable course

The government should emphasize on starting stackable courses in the higher education system. Such courses have also been started by many learned institutions, but due to budget and apathy of the government, they are not able to become a part of mainstream education. Most of the students do not even know about them and those who have them do not have access to them. In last year's budget, the government had allocated Rs 1 lakh 4 thousand 277 crore for education. This allocation for 2021-22 was Rs 93 thousand 224 crore. Due to the Corona epidemic, the government had also cut it.