Education & Training

Introduction

India holds an important place in the global education industry. India has one of the largest networks of higher education institutions in the world. However, there is still a lot of potential for further development in the education system.

Moreover, the aim of the Government to raise its current gross enrolment ratio to 30 per cent by 2020 will also boost the growth of distance education in India.

Investments/ Recent Developments

The total amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow into the education sector in India stood at US$ 3.24 billion from April 2000 to March 2020 according to the data released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

The education and training sector in India witnessed some major investments and developments in the recent past. Some of them are:

  • On September 4, 2020, Avanse Financial Services, launched a’ education loan offer for children who plan to pursue their higher education, take up teacher training courses and teachers who aim for up-skilling courses.
  • In September, EduAuraa, an online application education platform is launched with an aim to democratize the online education in India. Through a strategic partnership with OTT platforms ZEE5, a yearly ZEE5 premium subscription of Rs 999 (US$ 13.62), will grant a free subscription to Eduauraa services.
  • In September, GoLearn, India’s first AI-powered English Language Teaching and Learning (ELTL) platform is launched to meet the growing demand for English teachers.
  • On September 2, 2020, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi established an independent “School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI)” on its campus to offer post graduate and PhD courses. The new school also aims to become the one-stop center for industry participants or the Government for AI innovation/ funding/ collaborations.
  • In September 2020, LinkedIn and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) partnered to provide free access to LinkedIn Learning resources to upskill young professionals in the country and create a future-ready digital workforce.
  • Between January 2020 and August 2020, venture capital investors invested ~US$ 1.19 billion across 36 deals, against the ~US$ 409 million across 43 deals between January 2019 and August 2019.
  • From January 2020 to September 2020, BYJU’s was at the top in the edtech sector, with a raised capital of ~US$ 1.12 billion in four branches from investors including Silver Lake, Tiger Global, General Atlantic, Owl Ventures and DST Global.

Government Initiatives

Some of the other major initiatives taken by the Government are:

  • In September 2020, to help the administration implement policies for human resource development, Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor inaugurated the State Council of Education, Research and Training (SCERT) on the lines of NCERT.
  • In September 2020, UGC issued new guidelines for distance learning courses. As per norms, no university whether central, state, private or deemed to be university, can offer its programmes by franchising agreements with private coaching institutions to admit learners and conduct courses through open and distance learning and online mode.
  • To engage students at home amid the coronavirus pandemic through educational activities, an alternative academic calendar for students, parents and teachers for all Classes I–XII has been developed by the NCERT under the guidance of the Ministry of Education.
    • Alternative Academic Calendar (AAC) for four weeks and the next eight weeks for primary and upper primary stages had been released.
  •  To ensure equal access to online/digital education, the Government of India has taken the following initiatives:
    • Under the flagship Initiative, SWAYAM-Prabha, Ministry of Education is providing 34 educational TV channels, covering educational contents for schools and higher educational institutions.
    • Extensive use of radio, community radio and CBSE Podcast – ShikshaVani.
    • Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired was developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube.
  •  According to Union Budget 2020–21, Government allocated Rs 59,845 crore (US$ 8.56 billion) for Department of School Education and Literacy.
  • Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) by 2022 was announced in Union Budget 2020–21 with a proposed outlay of Rs 3,000 crore (US$ 429.55 million).
  • Under Union Budget 2020–21, Government proposed apprenticeship embedded degree/diploma courses by March 2021 in about 150 higher educational institutions.

Government Achievements

Following are the achievements of the Government in the past four years:

  • In private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funding, companies in the education sector attracted US$ 500 million by end of 2019.
  • In February 2020, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with New Zealand universities to establish a New Zealand Centre at the institute with an investment of US$ 50,000 each from both parties.
  • Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introduced artificial intelligence as a subject in class ninth from the session 2019–20.

Road Ahead

In 2030, it is estimated that India’s higher education will:

  • combine training methods that involve online learning and games, and is expected to grow 38 per cent in the next 2–4 years
  • adopt transformative and innovative approaches in Higher education
  • have an augmented Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 50 per cent
  • reduce state-wise, gender based and social disparity in GER to 5 per cent
  • emerge as the single largest provider of global talent with one in four graduates in the world being a product of the Indian higher education system
  • be among the top five countries in the world in terms of research output with an annual R&D spend of US$ 140 billion
  • have more than 20 universities among the global top 200 universities

Various Government initiatives are being adopted to boost the growth of distance education market besides focusing on new education techniques, such as E-learning and M-learning.

Education sector has seen a host of reform and improved financial outlays in recent years that could possibly transform the country into a knowledge haven. With human resource increasingly gaining significance in the overall development of the country, development of education infrastructure is expected to remain the key focus in the current decade. In this scenario, infrastructure investment in the education sector is likely to see a considerable increase in the current decade

The Government of India has taken several steps including opening of IIT’s and IIM’s in new locations as well as allocating educational grant for research scholars in most Government institutions. Furthermore, with online mode of education being used by several educational organisations, the higher education sector in India is set for major change and development in the years to come.

Note: Conversion rate used for September 2020 is Rs 1 = US$ 0.01370

References: Media Reports, Press Releases, Press Information Bureau, RNCOS Report, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Union Budget 2020–21