The Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present the Union Budget 2022 on Feb 1, 2022. The education sector which has been one of the biggest revenue generators for the country, has been hit badly by the pandemic and is expecting announcements regarding concessions and relief in the upcoming budget.
In an exclusive interview with Education Times, Dr M M Kariappa, Chairman, Vogue Institute of Art & Design, a leading design institute in Bengaluru, talks about the problems faced by the sector and how the government can support.
Education Times: How do you foresee 2022 for the education industry?
Dr M M Kariappa: We need to have a positive outlook. As an academic service provider, I foresee academic year 2022 to be a great year for academic institutions. One of the reasons is the mammoth and well-organized vaccination drive of Union Government and the well augmented support from the state governments. The Indian manufacturing sector and service sector geared up immediately after the second wave and now all activities of these two sectors are in peak. I strongly believe the same way education sector will also recover in a very short span of time and will see boom again. Hope the academic year 2022 will be wonderful and promising one for all its stake holders. We wish to see our premises filled once again with youthful, enthusiastic and creative youngsters.
ET: Did education industry recover from the 2nd wave of Covid in 2021?
Dr M M Kariappa: Not so far. Covid 2nd wave changed the socio-economic dynamics of our country. Many parents who were inclined to send their wards to eminent and reputed institutions with unique academic programs across the nation for their higher education became suddenly reluctant to send their children due to the severe impact of Covid. It was a great setback for the institution like ours running unique programs. Normally huge proportion of our admission comes from across India. This academic year it was apparent from our admission pattern that we lost around 60 – 70% of all India admissions suddenly due to the exorbitant raise of Covid cases.
The admission pattern of Indian education institutions is an annual one. So, the degree of recovery we can measure only at the time of / after 2022 admissions. The 2nd wave of Covid occurred during the peak admission period of pan India academic institutions in 2021. So, now we need to wait and see till the admission for the academic year 2022. The enquiries are surely promising for the forthcoming academic season.
ET: With the threat of Omicron looming large, do you see it plays a dampener on the education industry once again?
Dr M M Kariappa: I don’t think so. The hospitalization rate is very low everywhere even though Omicron cases are shooting up day by day. Moreover, the number of enquiries from the parents and students towards new admission over phone as well as in person are quite promising, unlike 2021. The peak admission months are May and June. Let us hope both Covid and Omicron will disappear by that time.
ET: What are your expectations from the Union budget 2022?
Dr M M Kariappa: We expect a lot of concessions and relief for the education sector in the Union Budget 2022.
Education sector, especially small and medium scale academic institutions and the institutions running specialized programs like ours are hit badly. Many of the institutions are struggling to even manage the recurring expenses such as salaries, maintenance, electricity bills, water bills etc., Under this situation how do we think about new programs, facility development etc.
No one can deny the noble contribution and role played by the Indian private educational sector towards increasing the academic wealth of our nation for the last 3 + decades. In other words, we proudly say we support the governments in eradication of academic poverty in our country especially in higher education. Directly and indirectly the private educational sector of the country has contributed a lot in the increase of per capita income and GDP of India.
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Now, it is high time for the MoF to think and announce a financial grant to safeguard and augment the infrastructure of the private academic institutions which were built over the years in a gradual phase through the hard toil of many. I believe certainly this grant would gradually bring back many private self-finance institutions into track and also save them from annihilation.
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We expect exemption from the GST for all our capital and recurring purchases of goods and services at least for next 3 to 4 years which may be a minimum lean period required for our recuperation.
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Group medical insurance for students and faculty as well as accident insurance premium borne by the Government would certainly give a sigh of relief to the institutions for certain extent.
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In addition, the Union Government can consider and try to implement the following things as a part of recognizing the proactive role played by the private institutions in the country’s educational wealth for the past 3-4 decades during the era of globalization:
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Padma awards for private higher educational institutions – Such awards will definitely motivate and rejuvenate the institutions to function with further zeal and enthusiasm.
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Special autonomy to the private educational institutions offering job and entrepreneurial academic programs for the past 10 years or more.
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Bringing many small and medium scale institutions offering similar programs under one umbrella and providing them autonomy for curriculum framing, student’s assessment and awarding the transcript and degree, a concept like mini university.
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Offering Center for National Importance status to well performing private educational institutions based on their past and present performance and the vision towards future.
