“No one had expected an allocation of 6 percent of GDP as recommended under the National Education Policy (NEP) but the reduction of allocation for education in the budget came as a surprise”. This tweet caught the fancy of a lot of ‘tweeple’ that had hoped for a larger allocation for the Education Sector in the budget announced for 2021-22 by the Finance Minister.
During the year 2017 when I was Secretary, School Education, Government of India, the National Education Policy was under formulation. In fact, it had been under formulation since 2014 and was finally announced in 2020. When Dr Kasturirangan, Chairman of the Committee, constituted to formulate the Policy, met me along with his team, I had begun by saying that he and his team were wasting their time. He was obviously taken aback by my remark.
However, I went on to elaborate. I wasn’t really against a policy. In fact, the country did need a fresh direction. My concern was not so much in the context of diagnosis and prescription as in the context of the application. I had suggested that the Policy should have, as its part, a detailed action plan clearly outlining what needs to be done, how will it be done, who will do it and by when would it be done?
By doing that the policy recommendations would have been more realistic, aligning them with the availability of finance. The Committee went on to recommend an allocation of 6 percent of GDP for education. A similar recommendation was made by Kothari Commission a few decades ago but the highest allocation ever has been around 3.1 percent only
It would be an understatement to say that the education sector in bad shape. Yes, all the investments made by the Government, especially those under the mid-day meal, have resulted in children coming to school. But as the then HRD Minister, Prakash Javadekar, often said, it merely resulted in ‘Aana-Khaana-Jaana’ (coming–eating-going) with very little education being imparted. There has been a decline in enrolment in government schools from 72.9 percent in 2007 to 63.1 percent in 2014. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 did little to stem the rot.
Ironically, the budgetary allocation for school education has seen a decline over the years even in nominal terms. The allocation for school education was Rs 55,115 crore during 2014-15. As a percentage of GDP, it was 0.52 percent and 3.07 percent of the entire budget. This amount got reduced during subsequent years. Even for 2016-17, the amount of INR 43,554 crore was less than the allocation made for 2014-15. As a percentage of GDP, it came down to 0.36 percent and 2.16 percent of the budget.
There was indeed a lot of hope consequent to the announcement of the NEP but apart from providing “employment” to experts who endlessly discussed the implications of NEP, the Policy can mean precious little if it is not backed by funding. The NEP itself is, by and large, a perfect document.
The analyses and diagnosis are on the spot as is the prescription. It is a bundle of brilliant ideas like the focus on early childhood education, emphasis on mother-tongue during initial classes, putting vocational training on the same pedestal as science and commerce stream, addressing issues relating to teachers, including pre-service training.
However, as I have often said in the past, for an idea or a set of ideas to fructify and sustain, they have to be politically acceptable, socially desirable, technologically feasible, financially viable, administratively doable, judicially tenable and emotionally relatable. Amidst all these dimensions, the real problem is with funding.
The Policy had a great opportunity to leverage the private sector to raise funds even for school education. However, for some reason, the Policy expects everything to be done by the government, treating the private domain as “pariahs”.
Most of the governments are reluctant to assign reasonable funds for education because the “return” on this “investment” is in the long run. Governments want immediate returns. What made matters worse is COVID. It squeezed out whatever little fiscal space that the government had for funding education.
Given competing demand on scarce resources, the government perhaps had no option but to slash the allocation for education. The overall allocation for 21-22 for education has come down to Rs 93,223 crore from Rs 99,311 crore in 20-21 in nominal terms.
For the flagship programme of school education, Samagra Shiksha, it has come down even further from Rs 38,375 crore in 20-21 to Rs 31,050 crore in 21-22. This is serious. If the states also slash their budgetary allocation, as they are likely to, school education would be grossly underfunded.
So, what is the way forward? The idea should be to identify such aspects of the NEP that do not require too much funding. Teachers lie at the pivot of school education. The recommendations under the NEP for this segment do not require huge financial commitment. Setting standards for B.Ed colleges and implementing 4-year course can be done forthwith.
Similarly, DIKSHA portal can be leveraged to put the training of teachers on a scientific pedestal. The selection of teachers for government schools can be re-organized on the lines recommended under the policy. This too does not require a financial commitment. Setting up an institutional framework for assessment can also be done.
Putting in place a mechanism for admission to Universities will also not cost much but will do away with the farcical scores in class XII. There are many other aspects of the NEP that can and should be implemented. CSR funding and partnership with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) can go a long way in improving quality of education. These can and should be leveraged even though the NEP does not give due credit to them.
The good news is that the School Education Department at the centre is blessed with some of the finest officers who are capable of making-things-happen. Amarjeet Sinha who handles education in the PMO is the one who has done extremely well in the social sector and has the requisite experience in the field of education as well. School education needs to happen in the interest of the country and its people.
—Anil Swarup is former Secretary, Government of India and author of the book 'Not Just A Civil Servant'. The views expressed are personal
First Published: Mar 6, 2021 11:00 AM IST
