An all-round approach to democratisation of education in Budget 2020: Rustom Kerawalla

Post Budget Review of the Education Sector by Ampersand Group's Chairman Rustom Kerawalla.

The Union Budget for the year 2020-21 presented by the Finance Minister is interesting for the education sector in more ways than one. It is important to commend the Finance Minister for having focussed on two of the most important factors that are at the nucleus of growth of the economy today. The two "cross-cutting developments" as referred to in the budget address the paradigm shift that we are currently witnessing in India – modern-day evolved technology and the number of people in the productive age – both factors in which India has an upper hand globally. Harnessing these in the right earnest is the need of the hour and the budget has outlined enough.

Weaving the budget around three prominent themes of an 'Aspirational India', 'Economic development' and building a 'Caring Society' underline the clarity of the broader objective this government has in mind. Of the three pillars, 'Aspirational India' under which the FM has covered Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development, Wellness, Water and Sanitation, and Education and Skills will drive the future of this country.

By and large, the educational sector seems to be the largest and rightly the most deserving beneficiary of this years' budget proposals. The attempt to address every aspect right from the creation of institutions and infrastructure to making way for foreign investment into the sector will help in covering the entire value chain in the educational lifecycle of an individual.

The overall allocation of Rs 99,300 crore for education is very essential to ensure that India emerges as the educational capital of the world. The aspirations of a new India, which has the highest number of youngsters seeking education in the world, requires a concerted effort towards providing the right kind of education that goes into the development of employable skills which will eventually help in harnessing the demographic dividend that India is well placed to earn.

Public-private partnership in furthering education is another important aspect that has been long talked about but not explored to its full potential until now. The budget lays considerable emphasis on the PPP model and it will help in unlocking the strengths of our systems and help harness the potential of our human resources in an optimal manner. True democratization of education can be achieved only when the Centre, States and the private sector work together. Opening up the ECB and FDI routes by easing the norms for the sector will be a good enabler in this direction.

The setting up of 150 higher education institutions for apprenticeship diploma and the idea of setting up a program for urban local bodies across the country to provide internship opportunities to fresh engineers for a period up to one year are steps that can create a pool of talent ready for tomorrow.

The 'Study in India' program opens doors for students from Asia and Africa to India and setting up of full-fledged online degree-level institutions will help in the democratization of education across all levels of society, especially those from the lower economic classes.

The idea of imparting the right kind of education is the need of the hour. The FM has worked well in that direction and it is now on the industry to put in place the right kind of systems and processes to harness the benefits of the provisions which in my opinion are well rounded for now.

(Disclaimer: Rustom Kerawalla is the Chairman of Ampersand Group. The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)