Budget Needs To Move Educational Services To 0% GST Slab: Kara Learning
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present Union Budget for financial year 2020-21 on February 1. Among many demands from various industries, educational services provider have called upon the Finance Minister to move educational services to 0 per cent goods and services tax (GST) slab from currently under the 'exempt' category of GST, Bengaluru-based pre-school chain operator Kara Learning said in a pre-Budget document.
"Presently the services provided by an educational institution to its students are under "Exempted Services". Thus educational institutions are unable to take GST input on several services provided by the different service provider (for instance GST on rent, part-time teachers' fee on other curriculum activities, etc). If the Government moves education services from "Exempt" to "0%" the educational institutions will be enabled to claim such GST input and automatically helps to reduce the cost of education to the society," Prachi Mehrotra, Executive Director - Kara Learning said in a pre-Budget wish list document.
Kara Learnings has also advocated for bigger spending on education and push for digitalisation in the education sector in the upcoming Union Budget.
"The upcoming budget needs to take initiatives such as allocating bigger spending on education and push digitalisation in the education sector. There is also an urgent need for introducing comprehensive teacher-training programs with newer forms of learning with an aim to develop and build capacity for addressing the current learning needs of students," Ms Mehrotra said.
The government in the last Budget proposed to bring in a New National Education Policy to transform India's higher education system to one of the global best education systems. The new policy proposes major changes in both school and higher education among others, better governance systems and brings greater focus on research and innovation.
