Despite being one of the fastest growing modes of education, online education missed attention from Government of India in the Budget 2021. Overall, education sector received Rs. 93,224.31 crore which is Rs. 6,086.89 crore less than the previous year which resulted in education technology getting even further lesser money than expected.
With the current pandemic Corona virus outbreak online education mode of learning saw big growth. National Education Policy (NEP) also spoke about EdTech but allocation of money did not match that focus which may have been due to the current state of economy.
We can see that most of the bigger educational institutes have infrastructure to provide online education, but several smaller institutions/universities/schools have struggled throughout the pandemic period of 2020.
India’s EdTech market which is expected to be around US$ 3.3 billion by the end of the year 2021. The courses are not reaching out to all parts of India since they are expensive and becomes even costlier due to 18% GST being applied on the same. There were expectations that atleast GST would be reduced during Budget 2021 which was missing.
Thus, I believe providing robust internet to all parts of India is already addressed and all state governments and Central government have done quite a substantial work on it. Still major infrastructure issues like providing mobile phones and computers to students is to be addressed coupled with providing affordable and quality learning paths with private partnerships wherein NEAT-AICTE project could pave the way forward.
Online Education and EdTech 