Budget 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2023-23 on 1 February. The budget will be announced at a time when the world is facing inflation, global recession and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The education sector has high hopes from this year’s budget as the government has recently introduced new initiatives and policy changes under the National Education Policy (NEP).
Experts in the education sector have shared their expectations and recommendations for this year’s budget. Lejo Sam Oommen, MD, Educational Testing Service (ETS), suggests that the government should invest in early stage exposure to internationalization to meet the objective of having 25% of the global workforce being Indian by 2047.
Nikhil Barshikar, CEO, Immerticus Learning, expects government recognition and incentives for start-ups to focus on skill development and job guarantees. Manav Subodh, founder of One Million for One Billion (1M1B), has recommended increasing spending on digitizing classrooms in rural government schools and building AR/VR labs in every school.
It is also expected that this year’s budget will include increased funding for teacher training, adult education and the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme. Additionally, there has been a call for removal of GST on educational services for ten years to provide a level playing field for new ed-tech companies.
Overall, the education sector is eagerly awaiting the announcements in the Union Budget 2023-23 and hopes for increased funding and support to help improve the education system in India.
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