On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget and it holds a special significance for the education sector. In 2020, the whole education sector shifted online as the coronavirus pandemic forced all of us to be indoors. As soon as coronavirus started to spread across the world, educational institutions were the first ones to shut down. The sector witnessed a smooth transition and now the Centre is expected to bend towards the online mode. The Centre also announced the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 amid the pandemic. Thus, Budget 2021 could prove to be a decisive milestone.

Kartik Sharma, co-founder of DcodeAI, said “Education and skill development will lead us out of the current pandemic. In 2020, the education system faced many disruptions and it affected students’ overall learning and development process. We expect the Centre to make more efforts to incorporate AI, ML and Data Science training sessions at the grassroots level. It will empower the masses with the required knowledge, innovation and competencies to navigate the AI-driven world of tomorrow.”

Also Read| Budget 2021: Dedicated freight corridor, infra push likely in Railway budget

AK Srikanth, CEO, KLAY, said, “As a nation, we’ve come a long way in providing access to education throughout the country. However, with the current pandemic situation, we run the risk of losing out hard-earned progress made in this direction. According to UNICEF, education for 270 million children in India has been disrupted by closures. In this context, an Oxfam study says teachers fear that a third of the children might not return even after schools reopen.”

Also Read| Also Read| Isolation, no phones: How the Finance Ministry keeps Budget a secret

He added, “While the NEP promises to improve budgets allocated towards education from the current 10% to 20% in 2030, a large chunk of this should immediately fund states for aggressive ‘Back to School’ campaigns. This includes supporting safe school reopening in a calibrated manner and efforts towards ensuring there are no dropouts through rigorous awareness campaigns. We also expect to also see the evolution of a hybridised model of education post-pandemic, and we look forward to government support to ensure access of the right tools and resources in light of the transformed modality of education delivery.”

Also read: Automobile industry expects to bounce back after distraught year

Last year, the Centre increased the allocation for the education sector by 5% to Rs 99,311.52 crore. The department of higher education was allocated Rs 39,466.52 crore while the school education and literacy department was given Rs 59,845 crore.

“By 2030, India is set to have the largest working-age population in the world. Not only do they need literacy but they need both job and life skills,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her speech.

This year, the education experts also expect the Centre to consider precarious conditions of the rural students as they were left struggling to cope up with the  online classes due to unavailability of resources.

The government has made small initiatives but the focus should be more on making e-learning accessible for all.