Budget 2022: What Education Sector Expects From Upcoming Union Budget? Experts Decode

Union Budget 2022-23 Education: Industry Experts Divya Jain, Director & Founder, The Class of One, Dr. Mayank Joshipura, Associate Dean, NMIMS and Charu Malhotra, Managing Director at Primus Partners decode what is needed for the education sector from Budget 2022-2023. 

Budget 2022 Expectations for Education Sector: The Government of India has announced to present the Union Budget for the year 2022-23 on February 1, and expectations have started to build up across various industries including education. In the current fragile state of the economy, the implementation of the National Educational Policy can be one of the main aspects of the Union Budget 2022-23. Industry Experts Divya Jain, Director & Founder, The Class of One, Dr. Mayank Joshipura, Associate Dean, Research & Ph.D. programme, Professor, NMIMS, School of Business Management and Charu Malhotra, Managing Director at Primus Partners decode what is needed for the education sector from Budget 2022-2023.

In 2021, the central government reduced its allocation towards Education by 6 per cent, effectively making it an allocation of 93,223 crores. However, the good news this year is that it is expected to increase the allocation by around 10%. This is mainly due to the attribution to healthcare in the last year.

The impact of the pandemic on the education system, particularly the public education system has made us increasingly reliant on supplementary sources of education, primarily provided by private organizations. In the recent past, these had been categorized under “Educational Services” and taxed at 18 per cent under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). This year we expect that the government will reduce this to 5 per cent and help to ease pressure on particularly those students who come from lower and middle-class families.
In the present times of pandemic, online education has proven to be a boon for the parents and students. The scope and reach of online learning tools have made sure students don’t lag behind in their studies and continue their academic journey without any challenges. Edtech platforms have been the safest contributor. We expect that in the upcoming budget, central government will closely look into introducing some prominent reforms for it. One of the key expectations from edtech industry is to reduce the GST slab of 18 per cent to 5 per cent for financial assistance and support. This will make the industry an attractive proposition for driving investments. The NEP 2020 was a visionary step for the industry, we expect moves on such lines that can bring about pivotal change in the remote learning sector