Budget 2022: 5 pre-budget wishes of edtech firms for edtech sector

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will most likely present the Union budget 2022 on February 1 for the education industry along with others.

Divya Tej Pereira, founder of Tutrrd (an online one-on-one platform for students for after school tuitions) and Pratham Barot, co-founder and CEO, Zell Education (Mumbai-based edtech offering courses in finance and accounts) have shared pre-budget views for the 2022 budget.

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India Budget 2022: Wishlist of edtech firms for edtech industry

• Government should create an umbrella body which will regulate and create a framework for the booming edtech space. This body will help streamline the edtech space and make sure that fair practices are in place.
• Government should come up with more initiatives like the National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) initiative specially focused towards the k-12 segment (where technical education regulator All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and dozens of edtech firms can come and work together in collaboration). EdTech can act as true allies to the government and education ecosystem which can help multiply government investments and accelerate learning outcomes.
• A share to be allocated towards education that goes into developing online teaching skills for all tutors.
• The GST slab which is 18% should be reduced to 5% for education as a space so that more people can invest into education thus shaping a brighter future for tomorrow.
• Consider launching an edtech focused fund which will help small and mid-size ed-tech companies to raise the much-needed money for a faster scale-up and better experience using technology. These edtech firms can later become collaborative partners and work with the government to reduce learning loss and provide education to all.
• The implementation of National education policy 2020 and schemes on lines of Ayushman Bharat.

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Pratham Barot says, “The much awaited union budget should direct its resources on implementation of NEP, building teacher capacities and augmenting health and hygiene at school levels. It should also focus on the implementation of edtech policies for all the students. While the education segment faced many challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we look forward to the budget targeted to provide relief and support for this very important segment that plays a pivotal role in nation building.

“We further feel it is extremely important to focus on having a regulatory body for the sector in place. This would provide transparency and confidence to consumers and avoid having a monopoly of certain players in the sector,” he stated.