Budget 2022: Amend RTE Act, support online learning, cut taxes, says private sectors
Union Budget 2022: Publishers seek GST cut for printing books and tax exemption for COVID expenses
Private players in the education sector and publishers are expecting funds to improve access to online education, data protection, student scholarships and GST cuts. They also hope to see tax exemption from COVID-19-related expenses in the Union Budget 2022 that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will announce on February 1.
Sonali Khan, managing director at Sesame Workshop India, said she hopes the government increases the education budget which saw steep cuts last year. Khan said the government should amend the Right to Education Act 2009 to bring children aged three to six within its purview. Currently, the RTE supports elementary education for children aged six to 14, or Classes 1 to 8.
PC Chhabra, executive director of Sanskriti University is expecting a 10% increase in the budget allocation for education compared to the last year’s. He also suggested making 5G devices available at an affordable cost to support online learning.“If the government can provide subsidized access to laptops for students and teachers it can boost the quality of online education”, he said.
