Ever since the inception of the Coronavirus-led pandemic in early 2020, India’s education sector has taken a massive hit, amongst other sectors. While urban students were able to attend schools and colleges through digital means, students in the rural areas have been sitting ducks in these past two years. Citing this issue, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced to set up a government-backed digital university in India to deliver world-class education to rural areas of India.
In the Union Budget 2022 session, FM Nirmala Sitharaman stated that many students in the rural sectors of India have stopped receiving formal education due to the pandemic. So, to promote digital learning and to deliver world-class education to these students, Sitharaman announced the setting up of a digital university in India.
Other than this, the Finance Minister also announced to expand the “One Class, One TV Channel” initiative under the PM e-Vidya scheme from 12 to 200 channels in the country. “This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12,” the FM further added.
The ‘One Class One TV Channel’ program of PM-E Vidya will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV Channels to enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1st-12th: FM @nsitharaman #AatmaNirbharBharatKaBudget pic.twitter.com/IJQrSfqW7c— PIB India (@PIB_India) February 1, 2022
Other than announcing digital education initiatives, Sitharaman also said that Indian citizens will soon be able to avail microchip-based e-passports in the country. These new electronic passports will feature a microchip, encoded with security-related data. The e-passports will be able to digitally store various ID-related data of a citizen such as their biometric information, name, address, etc.
Next phase of ease of living to be launched under Amrit Kaal: Union Budget 2022-23Issuance of e-passports using embedded chip and futuristic technology to be rolled out in 2022-23Read here: https://t.co/6m3seyzfyH pic.twitter.com/FRmz3OUdIg— PIB India (@PIB_India) February 1, 2022
During her Budget 2022 speech, Sitharaman also announced two new initiatives to help citizens develop and improve their skills and promote drone-based startups in India to boost drone-as-a-service applications Amongst these, the DESH-Stack ePortal aims to provide an online portal that can empower citizens to skill, upskill, or reskill through online programs and training. It will provide various API-based trusted skill credentials, payment, and discovery layers to find relevant jobs and business opportunities.
