Budget 2023-24 Expectation: Government should focus on implementation of New Education Policy

When schooling entirely moved online during the pandemic, India’s edtech industry gained significantly. However, as children started going back to school, many players in this industry noticed a decline in subscriptions. The government is anticipated to provide some relief to the edtech sector with the release of the Union Budget 2023–24 on 1 February. The education sector received a total of 1,04,278 crore in the most recent Union Budget. This represented an 11 per cent increase above the Budget 2021–22. In the previous budget, e-learning and digital education received special attention. As a result, the government’s ‘One Class One TV channel’ was expanded, and a digital university was established. It seems that the government will continue to prioritise increasing access to technology and education in the upcoming Budget for 2023, especially in rural and underdeveloped areas. This can entail boosting funding for ed-tech businesses, offering tax breaks to businesses in the industry, and starting fresh campaigns to advertise the use of technology in education. To keep up with changes in the labour market, the government may also place a premium on skill development and vocational training. Edtech sector’s wish list The new National Education Policy has established the rate at which students in grades K–12 will acquire their skills (NEP 2020). We believe that the government will increase its spending on education for the upcoming fiscal year. By putting more emphasis on the implementation and last-mile execution of the new policy, high-quality tax-free education, and skill development, the reforms will pave the way for outcome-based learning, especially for school children. We believe the government will prioritise the use of digital education in Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4 cities and consider ways to expand access to it. GST, taxes impact online courses The education system in India has a big impact on the country’s future. We are all aware that GST is applicable to most products and services in India. The sensitive nature and importance of the education sector have been considered in the GST Act to preserve a careful balance. Therefore, whereas other commercial education services like online courses and skill-based offline solutions are subject to ordinary taxation, essential educational services like books are excluded from GST. Metaverse, chatGPT to impact tech The metaverse is one of the most exciting and exhilarating modern technology developments in recent years. It is ready to raise the bar for learning. Users will be able to engage with one another, advance their abilities, and work together in specially built environments thanks to this concept, which is seen as the internet of the future. Students benefit from using cutting-edge edtech Due to the increasing importance of learning and the incorporation of technology into the classroom, the ecosystem is currently becoming more vibrant and participative. Learning management systems may easily incorporate multimedia components like movies, augmented reality, audio files, etc. into the course material with eBooks. In comparison to printed books, the new interactive learning techniques foster more student-teacher involvement in the classroom. The writer is Founder & Director of Stemrobo Technologies (@stemrobo), an ed-tech-based firm. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .