Edtech firms to get boost from govt’s digitization push in Budget 2022

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to launch a digital university, to be built on a hub and spoke model, to provide education in different Indian languages and formats, giving a boost to India’s edtech sector that has already grown exponentially over the last two years.

The finance minister also announced the expansion of the PM eVidya one class-one TV Channel’ programme from 12 to 200 TV channels that will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12.

Sitharaman said, “A digital university will be established to provide access to students across the country for world-class quality universal education with personalized learning experience at their doorsteps. The best public universities and institutions in the country will collaborate as a network of hub-spokes.”

The FM announced the launch of DESH-Stack e-portal, a digital ecosystem for skilling and livelihood that will skill, reskill and upskill people through online training. It will also give trusted skill certifications based on an application programming interface (API), as well as payment to identify job and business opportunities.

Sitharaman also said startups will be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through different applications and for drone-as-a-service (DrAAS), selected industrial training institutes in all states will start offering courses surrounding drones, to promote skill-based education.