The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley while presenting the General Budget 2017-18 in Parliament today said that the Government proposes to leverage information technology and launch SWAYAM Platform with at least 350 online courses. In his Budget Speech, the Finance Minister said this will enable students to virtually attend the courses taught by the best faculty; access high quality reading resources, participate in discussion forums; take tests and earn academic grades. Access to SWAYAM would be widened by linkage with DTH channels, dedicated to education.

Online education platform expansion enables virtual course access, integrated assessments, and graded academic credit through IT delivery. Launch of a national online education platform leveraging information technology to provide courses delivered by leading faculty with integrated reading resources, discussion forums, online tests, and mechanisms for awarding academic grades, and to broaden access through linkage with DTH educational channels.