Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said this year’s Union Budget will be of great help in implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, while asking stakeholders to expedite work on rolling out the projects announced in it, including a digital university.
Addressing a webinar on the positive impact of the Budget, Modi said it focuses on universalization of quality education, skill development, urban planning and design, internationalisation. “This Budget will help a great deal in realising the National Education Policy.”
Modi said the digital connectivity kept the country’s education system going during the pandemic. He added the digital divide has been decreasing in India. “Innovation is ensuring inclusion in our country. Now going even further, the country is moving towards integration.”
Modi said measures announced in the Budget including e-Vidya, “one class, one channel”, digital labs, and the digital university will go a long way in helping the country’s youth. “This is an attempt to provide better education solutions to villages, poor, Dalits, backward and tribal people in the country’s socio-economic set up.”
Modi said the proposed digital university is an innovative and unprecedented step with the potential of fully addressing the problem of seats in the universities. He called upon the Union education ministry and other stakeholders to work with speed on the project. Modi underlined the need for keeping international standards in mind while creating institutes.
Modi asked the stakeholders to implement the Budget provisions seamlessly and to ensure optimum outcomes from them. He referred to ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrating 75 years of India’s independence and said this is the Budget they want to implement quickly for laying down the foundation of the Amrit Kaal. “Budget is not just an account of statistics. If implemented properly, it can bring great transformation even with limited resources.”
Modi spoke about the link between education in the mother language and the mental development of children. He said many states are imparting medical and technical education in regional languages. Modi called for momentum in creating the best content in digital format in local languages. “Such content needs to be available via the Internet, mobile phones, TV, and radio.”
International Mother Language Day is being celebrated on Monday.