Gaurav Goel, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Toprankers:

“Directing focus towards the new and emerging fields, the Budget reflects great foresight in skilling for industry 4.0, which includes soft skills for job-readiness and is likely to improve the number of workforces. Improvement in pedagogy, more centres of excellence, the launch of a unified Skill India Digital Platform, a digital approach to bridge the pandemic learning loss via the National Digital Library, and a drive towards ICT in most significant proposals are all positive signs for the industry!”

    Sarvesh Shrivastava, MD and Co-founder, Eupheus Learning:

“We saw some encouraging steps being taken for the education sector under the 2023 Budget layout. Especially the emphasis on setting up digital libraries and teacher training, it was also heartening to hear about the increase in the spends %age on education. While accelerated digitalization and teacher training is amongst the key mandates of NEP 2020, we will see an accelerated role being played by the EdTech companies if the tax structure around their services/ solutions are also addressed in a more progressive manner.”

    Ms. Radhika Shrivastava, Executive Director, FIIB (Fortune Institute of International Business)

    The announcement to strengthen teacher training via innovative pedagogy, curriculum transaction, continuous professional development, integration of ICT, and much more is a commendable initiative by the honorable Finance Minister to enhance the delivery of education and the implementation of technology in India’s education segment.

    Also, the decision to transform the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) into vibrant institutes of excellence and establish a National Digital Library for children and adolescents will serve as a stepping stone for improving foundational literacy and numeracy among children. 

    Facilitating states to establish physical libraries at the panchayat levels and offer access to national digital library resources will further create a conducive learning environment and nurture communication and creative skills among students. Moreover, the decision to recruit 38,000 teachers and support staff for 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools is a thoughtful decision to move towards the uniform quality of education across the country.

    Overall, the Union Budget 2023 unveils some key actions to overcome the learning losses of the Covid-19 pandemic, fueling the digitization of education and driving uniform delivery of education in the country. These announcements are expected to fast-track the implementation of NEP 2020 and achieve its end objectives.