Closure of schools due to Covid-19 pandemic related lockdowns over the last two years has severely impacted India's school-going children. Many students, particularly in government schools and in rural India, have lost years of education. To avoid the emergence of India’s ‘lost generation’ a few years hence and to prevent further adverse impact on these children, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to bridge the emerging gaps in education. 

First, the FM acknowledge the need for supplementary teaching and building resilient mechanisms in education delivery. To that end, the ‘One Class, One TV’ channel programme under the PM e-Vidya scheme will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels across the country. This expansion will help state governments provide education for students between classes 1 and 12 in their respective regional languages.

Second, high-quality e-content will be developed in all spoken languages and shared via the internet, on mobile phones and TVs and through radio programmes. Teachers, likewise, will be equipped with comprehensive digital teaching tools that will facilitate better learning outcomes.

Third, a digital university will be developed based on world-class quality universal education systems. Students will have access to personalised learning systems in different Indian languages and ICT formats. The university will be built on a network of hub and spoke model and with collaboration from India’s leading public universities.

These measures go beyond last year’s comprehensive and widely hailed National Education Policy in shaping India’s emergent future. As the country’s youth comes of age in a rapidly changing world with new systems and newer challenges, bridging gaps in the education of Indian students will be of utmost importance. India has emerged from the third wave of the pandemic with record-shattering growth and GST collection. Through the measures announced in the Budget 2022-23, the country will also be able to ensure continued growth in education.

This article was authored by Aarushi Aggarwal.