The Central government has allocated an outlay of Rs 218 crore from the 15 Finance Commission grant towards online learning and development of professional courses in regional languages for higher education in Odisha.
On 19 July 2021 the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan stated in Loksabha that, under the 15th Finance Commission, a grant of Rs 6,143 has been earmarked for online learning and development of professional courses in regional languages for higher education. Under the program online learning will be provided through the development of different digital tools for which the Central government has already initiated several projects.
The Central government is promoting online education through open online courses, direct to home (DTH) content development and digital classrooms. However, the centre has made provision of devices for 25 lakh students belonging to socially and economically weaker sections of the society.
During the FY 2020-21, the Centre already spent Rs 14.75 crore for online teaching. The Central Education Ministry has sanctioned 194 Adarsh degree colleges for educationally backward districts.