Ever since the pandemic has hit the nation, it has severely affected the economy, education and lifestyle of the people. Although the Indian Government managed to resurrect the economy, the situation of India’s education system seemed deteriorating. Digital classes and exams seemed to be quite fancy and decent to start with but were costing students their future.
However, the Union Budget of 2022 emerged as a boon to the education sector. The Union Ministry has announced to set up a digital university to provide quality education in online mode. With the landmark decision, the GoI has made India’s education system “Pandemic Proof.”
Government gifts Digital University to the education sector
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2022-23 in Parliament on February 1. One of the primary announcements made by the government is the setting up of a Digital University to ensure quality education for the students.
Notably, Digital University will aim at providing access to students across the country to ensure quality universal education with a personalised learning experience. The education in these universities will be provided in different Indian languages and ICT formats.
As per the official statement by the Ministry of finance, “The university is planned to be built on a networked hub-spoke model, with the hub building cutting edge ICT expertise. The best public universities and institutions in the country will collaborate as a network of hub-spokes.”
Government’s attempt to boost the education sector
The government, this year, has allocated an education budget of Rs 1.04 lakh crore which was estimated at Rs 93,224 crore the previous year. This shows that the government is keen on improving E-learning as it has also expanded various schemes and policies promoting online education. The digital university is one such initiative.
Vivek Jain, Chief Business Officer – Shiksha.com, Naukri FastForward applauded the education sector budget for 2022. He said, “This year’s Union Budget increment in the funds compared to the previous year is a good sign. The Digital University is a great initiative, especially, in this pandemic situation as there is a lot of uncertainty around it. 200 channels from 12, covering multiple regional languages under the one class – one channel program will also boost coverage of education in the remote sectors with a minimal cost.”
Digital university to make education system Pandemic proof
The education system of India suffered a lot after the pandemic hit the nation. Then, the availability of the internet from Kashmir to Kanyakumari helped India to make giant progress in education sector reforms. Online classes were provided. Exams were conducted through digital means. But, they soon began bleeding poor results.
Read more: Online exams are going to cost India decades of educational progress
Earlier as reported by TFI, in an unexpected turn of events, 40 per cent of first-year students of MBBS courses in Bihar could not clear their final examinations. Out of the total of 1,172 students, 447 failed. All these examinations and classes for them were conducted in an online mode.
Online examinations on the other hand have been killing the intra-student competition. In online exams, students have been found to share flats for assisting each other. The final aim is to get marks, they somehow get it, but when it comes to real-world scenarios, they are often found dumbstruck.
Digital universities, however, is a solution for the above problems. Not only these universities will fill the education gap, but will also help students to know the importance of regional languages. Moreover, the introduction of such universities will ensure the proper classes even at the time of pandemics.