Reform is passe, time to revolutionise the system
The education landscape of today has seen some significant shifts brought about by recent technological interventions. Teaching and learning systems around the world have gravitated towards the needs of the learner, especially in last decade or so!
The learner has been the beneficiary of several other phenomena too, ‘internet’ being the foremost as it allows her to gain knowledge and information anywhere, anytime!
The situation augurs well for a developing economy such as ours, where a large young demographic is eager to reap the benefits of technology in education.
It is a huge responsibility, on both public and private entities, to respond to and fulfil the aspirations of this young population.
The Union Budget of 1st February will be the country’s first post GST budget and the incumbent government’s last full budget of this term.
It is indeed a great opportunity for the government to introduce some ‘revolutionary changes’ for the education sector. Here are some areas where the government should focus on in the upcoming budget:
100% tax exemption for digital education products and services: The dream of a ‘Digital India’ has resonated with all Indians and hence every effort ought to be made to enhance the early introduction of digital products and solutions in schools.
As per the 2011 census 24.6% of our population is in the age group of 5-14 years and hence early seeding of digital products and devices is an investment for the future.
Tax exemption on digital products and services will encourage schools and also parents to invest in learner-centric education technologies.
Keep book printing, binding and other input costs such as royalty for educational authors outside the ambit of GST: While books continue to remain exempt under GST, inputs such as printing, binding and royalties attract GST. Since publishers do not get input tax credit, this creates a cost burden on them.
There is also a need to incentivize authors for them to continue to create original work, especially in an environment where IPR and copyright violations are commonplace. GST exemption on royalty and inputs such the ones mentioned above will help publishers better manage cost of textbooks while continuing to invest on high quality original work.
Introduce cross-disciplinary courses across universities and higher education institutions: The jobs of the future are increasingly going to be multidimensional which will require varied skill-sets.
The government must make provision for courses and curriculum that combine concepts and theories across multiple disciplines to enable learners to understand issues better from different perspectives and adopt a more holistic approach to problem solving.
Mandate fixed number of days for teacher training in a calendar year: In December 2014, the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching was launched with a budget of INR 900 crores - a step in the right direction.
The Mission’s goals included setting up, among other things, 30 Schools of Education, five Centres of Excellence for Curriculum and Pedagogy, two Interuniversity Centres for Teacher Education and 25 teaching learning centres.
In order to fast track benefits of this scheme, continuous professional development of teachers should be made mandatory – educators across schools, colleges, higher and professional education institutions should have time set aside for their own professional development.
India is today well positioned to become a global knowledge powerhouse given its other advantages such as large skilled manpower, economic stability, technology prowess and widespread adoption of English – some smart educational interventions will only hasten this journey to the top!
early seeding of digital products is an investment For The Future