Education Budget 2023: Boost funding for technical education, reduce tax on student loans, experts want

NEW DELHI: Budget 2023-24 will be presented on February 1, 2023. The union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget. From boosting fund for skill and technical education and reduction of tax on student loans to focusing on providing students with monetary relief and giving advanced educational infrastructure and amenities, the education sector has high hopes from the upcoming budget 2023-24.

Noting that several organizations, corporate and government departments, are collaborating to support and provide technical education to students in both rural and urban areas of India, KA Alagarsamy, director, Consortium for Technical Education (CTE), Karnataka said, “The upcoming union budget 2023 is expected to boost funding for Skill Development and Technical Education, particularly for semi-employed youth, in order to support these efforts.”

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The collaborations with the government and increasing budget allocation in the skill and technical education sector, Alagasamy added: “These efforts aim to provide world-class skills to the market through institutions such as ITIs, Polytechnics, and Engineering Colleges, as well as by supporting employment opportunities for young people in the growing industrial sector of the state.”

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Ashish Munjal, Co-Founder and CEO of Sunstone expects this year's budget to focus on providing students with monetary relief as well as best-in-class advanced educational infrastructure and amenities.

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Munjal further added: “Forums such as NETF (National Educational Technology Forum) might continue to be the government’s focus areas to aid technologically enhanced learning strategies. While increased investment in areas of AI learning and other developing technologies is anticipated, students, particularly in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and government schools, must have uninterrupted access to digital resources. States are developing smart classrooms at a fast pace, and it is anticipated that there will be a significant push in this direction as well.”

Saying that the government advanced the wave of digital education with the announcements of the opening of the digital university and expanding the ambit of the PM e-vidya programme to compensate for the learning losses of students in the previous budget, Divya Jain, Director, The Class of One expects budget 2023-24 to bring more reforms to expedite the digital learning revolution to help create a parallel education mechanism and give many students quality-based learning.

“The education sector is growing on a massive scale, and funds should be allocated commensurate with its market size and growth dynamics. On the other side, there are many people who subscribe to the ideology that a degree acquired from a virtual school is worthless. The government should emphasise the positive impact of digital education. The Budget should incentive the digital education sector and introduce measures so that the general public can outgrow this misperception,” she added.

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Saurabh Arora, Founder and CEO, University Living says, “We expect tax reduction on scholarships and student loans so that they are encouraged to pursue their higher education especially from abroad. With this budget we also expect more focus on NEP and new skilling programs to make the youth of India not just job ready but industry ready.”