Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today proposed the setting up of a digital university with an aim to provide access to world-class education to Indian students, in her Budget speech on Tuesday.
Sitharaman said that the digital university will have programs in different Indian languages and will be built on a network hub and spoke model.
Focussing on digital learning, considering the prolonged closure of schools due to COVID-19, the Finance Minister said new e-learning content delivery platforms will be launched via the internet, TV, and smartphones to help students in rural and semi-urban areas.
To boost education options in regional languages, Sitharaman expanded the PM-E Vidya Scheme from the existing 12 educational television channels to 200 channels.
New skill development courses will be introduced in the state ITIs to enable the youth of the country, she added.
The Centre also laid focus on Agri-education. She proposed to revise the syllabus of agricultural universities to meet the needs of natural, zero-budget, organic farming and modern-day agriculture.
The government has also decided to allow the setting up of foreign universities in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT city) to provide courses in financial management, fin-tech, mathematics among others.
