Indian Education Industry from a beyond budgeting perspective by Mr. Nitin Vijay, Founder & MD, Motion Education Private Limited, Kota, Rajasthan, a renowned EdTech company, which prepares students for JEE, NEET, NTSE, KVPY, Olympiads, and other competitive exams in India. Educationist, Mr. Nitin Vijay is an alumnus of IIT, BHU, an engineer-turned-entrepreneur who excels in hybrid learning models.
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Mr. Nitin Vijay, Founder & MD, Motion Education Private Limited, Kota, Rajasthan
The pandemic hit Indian students have been under immense pressure for the last two years and they have been looking out for relief both from the distressing health situation as well as from the uncertainties of their schools and colleges. According to some estimates, more than 247 million students were unable to go to school as a result of the COVID calamity. Seen in context of the Gross Enrolment Ratio, which for higher education stands at 27.1 percent and 51 percent for Higher Secondary levels, the education sector situation is far from ideal.
The Union Budget presented earlier this week proposes to reduce these anxieties to a considerable extent and draws up a long to medium-term outlook for further strengthening the country’s teaching and learning infrastructure and education delivery systems. while the budgetary allocation is not close to the six percent of GDP as recommended by the NEP (New Education Policy), yet it does translate to an increase of over Rs. 11,000 crore or about 12 percent over the previous year. Considering the compulsions of balancing the budget and the diverse constraints of an ambitious and growing economy, this limitation is not so hard to accept and understand.
Looking ahead, EdTech and skilling should become two thrust areas for the education sector, both holding great promise for investors and policymakers and having the potential to change the lives of our millions of students. Digital competency, both among teachers and students, will have to be increased if the divide between more fortunate and less privileged students has to be bridged. While it is true that various government and private initiatives are being proposed to improve education in India, the fact remains that in order to meet the USD 225 billion market size potential by 2025, the education sector will need to fire on all six cylinders. For this, technology interventions such as better broadband connectivity, infrastructure enhancement through 5G, and availability of satellite-based delivery systems shall play a major role. Content creation and delivery in regional languages with focus on primary and secondary education will also buttress the education segment in India.
The key directions of growth that can be envisaged for the education sector in India are as follows. One, India should become a world leader in EdTech given China’s limitations in this regard. Two, with the focus on quality institutes of higher learning and the presence of world-class organizations such as the IISc and IIMs as well as IITs, India can be a superpower for providing skilled talent across the globe. As an investment and partnership opportunity, India’s education sector now provides ample scope for the best in the world, both for domestic growth as well as global consumption.
Easy and effective access to quality education, remote learning methods and avenues, cost-effective and vocational courses, empowering of the poor and the underprivileged through seamless learning measures, and reducing the burden of unnecessary courses on children and their caregivers, are few of the concerns that the education sector has been grappling with. The sooner we address these, the faster shall India be on course towards real self-reliance.
Please visit www.motion.ac.in.
