Union Budget 2022: Finance minister announces Digital University, e-content in regional languages

NEW DELHI: In the Union Budget 2022, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the establishment of a Digital University along with other initiatives to improve digital education in the country. Sitharaman is presenting the fourth Union Budget 2022 today in the Lok Sabha.

Union Budget 2022 Live Updates.

A high quality e-content will be introduced in all spoken languages in the country, the minister announced.

Talking about schools, the minister said COVID-19 pandemic has induced closure of schools across the country as a result of which children especially in the rural areas have lost almost two years of education. The minister urged to recognize the need to impart supplementary teachers in schools.

Also Read | UGC draft guidelines on ‘development plans’ cover campus size, recruitment, promotions

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will work on improving urban planning courses for urban development, said Sitharaman.

World class universities will be allowed to offer courses in financial management, financial technology, science, and technology, free of Indian regulations, Sitharaman further said.

Select Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in all states will start required skilling courses, she said.

Also Read | Economic Survey 2022: Need to strengthen government schools to handle increased enrolment

Along with that, One class, one TV channel programme of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12, she added.

5 existing academic institutions for urban planning will be designated as Centre for Excellence with an endowment fund of Rs 250 crore each, she said.

Also Read | Union Budget 2022: Fund offline classes, not edtech, for school children, say activists

Charu Malhotra, MD and Co-founder, Primus Partners talking about the announcement of digital university said, “a central digital university has potential to help bridge not just a digital divide but a learning divide by creating access with a wide mix of courses, faculty, and digital learning tools through virtual learning environments.”

On supplementary education, she said, “We welcome the announcement of supplementary education channels and hope that a quality assurance process for certification of E content will be brought in.”