New Delhi: While presenting the Union Budget 2022-23Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman acknowledged that children, especially in the rural areas, and those from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other weaker sections, have lost approximately two years of formal education due to the closure of schools during the pandemic.
She proposed a digital university based on a “hub-and-spoke” model and the extension of the “one class, one TV channel” scheme to 200 channels to provide additional teaching in regional languages in schools in her budget statement on Tuesday.
Epidemiologist and Public Policy Specialist Chandrakant Lahariya, who has been vocal against long-term school closures, took to Twitter and said “Learning loss of two years to be compensated by setting up TV channels, really????? It shows that we are not serious about the loss of learning of our children.
“Open schools and get children back for in-person learning. Invest in school education,” he added.
#UnionBudget2022
Learning loss of two years to be compensated by
Setting up TV channels, really?????It shows that we are not serious about loss of learning of our children.
Open the schools & get children back for in person learning.
Invest in school education
— Chandrakant Lahariya (@DrLahariya) February 1, 2022
Kudos to FM for recognising loss from 2 years of school closure but really one class one TV, e-content is NOT the answer. Opening schools is the and. Are we so blind to realities on the ground?
— Yamini Aiyar (@AiyarYamini) February 1, 2022
Chairperson of KIIT International School, Mona Lisa Bal, called the Union Budget 2020 a hit-and-miss for the education sector.
“While it has finally addressed and recognised the learning loss the pandemic has created, the need to develop the digital infrastructure of the country was not adequately focused on in the budget. The economically disadvantaged students, especially in rural areas, have lost essential years of education and introduction of supplementary teachers was highly necessary. Supplementary education can help bridge the gap to a large extent. Increase of ‘One Class-One TV Channel’ from 12 to 200 TV Channels to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12 is a welcome move but it will not be enough,” the chairperson said.
“A major thrust of the budget this year is towards digitalisation of higher education and it’s a matter of serious concern,” said a statement by the Academics for Action and Development (a group of Delhi University teachers).
“The announcement of digital university and PM e-vidya scheme will merely give a statistical uplift to GER without increasing public spending on education. With huge digital divide and resource and gadget-deficient families in India, there is a need for more schools and higher education institutions on the ground than in the cyber-space.”
“The idea of replacing human teachers with digital teachers in digital university is not appropriate for India, where huge diversity among students needs different explanations for better understanding,” the statement added.
“Secondly, this will inflict job cuts, whereas a huge number of eligible and NET-qualified aspirants are looking for teaching jobs,” the statement remarked further.
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