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Economy
Mahesh

26/02/24 08:41 AM IST

Budget allocation to education sector

In News
  • The Interim Budget has slashed allocation to higher education by 16.8%. This will exacerbate the economic burden on both educational institutions and students.
Budgetary allocations
  • The grant for higher education has suffered a ruthless reduction of ₹9,600 crore from the preceding fiscal year’s revised estimate, with a second consecutive year of slashes in allocations for institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology and and the Indian Institutes of Management.
  • While there is a marginal increase of 0.73% to school education, the Interim Budget has unflinchingly slashed the allocation to higher education by 16.8%.
  • This will not only compel colleges and universities to introduce more self-financing courses but also increase the financial woes of students and these institutions’ reliance on the goodwill (read: loans) of the ‘benevolent’ HEFA.
  • This flagrant transference of financial responsibility from the government to public institutions and their students compels universities, once revered as temples of knowledge, to don the cloak of financial stewardship, steering their central focus away from the pursuit of education.
  • Education, in this paradigm, becomes a purchasable commodity procured through loans, obliging universities to repay via internally generated funds, typically sourced by charging students more and more.
Gross enrolment ratio
  • With the GER at the elementary level standing impressively at almost 100% (as reported by the Department of School Education and Literacy Survey 2021-22), a sobering reality surfaces, revealing that over 72% of students find themselves excluded from the prospect of higher education, primarily due to the fiscal deficit experienced by institutions and students.
  • India’s GER at the higher education level trails significantly behind the global average of 38%, marking it the lowest among BRICS nations.
  • Robust funding stands as a crucial linchpin, propelling initiatives to bridge gaps, enhance enrolments, ensure retention, and elevate the overall quality of education, making it more equitable and inclusive.
Allocation to school education
  • A significant share of the allocation of ₹73,000 crore, specifically ₹6,050 crore, has been allocated to upgrade 6,448 PM-Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI), while ₹6,399 crore has been earmarked for the construction of new Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS), indicating an increase of ₹3,250 crore and ₹3,930 crore, respectively, from the previous year’s Budget.
  • This points to a scenario where 8.3% of the total school education budget is dedicated exclusively to a mere 0.7% of schools, leading to a substantial decrease in the overall budget for existing schools and leaving them in the lurch.
  • The PM-SHRI schools adhere to the directives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
  • The higher budgetary allocation to them seems to be a way of arm-twisting schools from other States/Union Territories who are sceptical about the NEP agenda to embrace it in its entirety.
Source- The Hindu

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