Union Budget 2019 India: Modi 2.0’s first Budget must address poverty & quality education as binaries.
Union Budget 2019 India, Budget 2019 India, Budget 2019-20
Budget 2019: The people of India will expect Nirmala Sitharaman’s first Budget to address poverty alleviation and quality education as binaries.
Budget 2019: Prime Minister Narendra Modi famously said during his victory speech, “India has only two classes, the poor and those who have the responsibility to eliminate poverty.” Lack of education is a significant cause of poverty and access to learning an indisputable alleviator. The people of India, therefore, will expect Nirmala Sitharaman’s first Budget to address poverty alleviation and quality education as binaries. Lack of access to quality education hampers school and life preparedness. Add to this shortage of teachers, and inadequate training and one has a complete recipe for a learning crisis hitting the nation.
Public spending on education: When expressed as a percentage of GDP, the expenditure has fluctuated: from 4.1% in 2000-01, down to 3.3% in 2004-05, up to 4.4% in 2013-14, and down again to sub-4%, as per government figures. Recent strategy documentation released by the NITI Aayog has recognised the need to increase this spending to 6% of GDP. The draft NEP (2019) also envisions doubling of expenditure on education over 10 years.
Two more commitments of the government require additional allocation. First, extending the provisions of the RTE ACT 2009, and the draft NEP 2019 recommends provision for free and compulsory education for all children and adolescents between the ages of 3 and 18, and entails additional outlays. Second, India is a signatory to the UN’s agenda of Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal No 4, Quality Education for all, to be achieved by 2030. Massive funding is required to meet these commitments.
A detailed look at education presents two perspectives: psychological and societal—the former deals with learners, teachers, pedagogy and curriculum, and the latter offers us a lens to look at the societal context in which learning occurs (formal, informal and non-formal). We need a comprehensive budgetary provision for building great institutions with an influential culture of knowledge and a long pipeline of committed and well-equipped teachers. On the other hand, it focuses on promoting skills and curiosity-driven education, for which we need additional resources.
Initiatives such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan received significant funding previously, impacting the enrolment and retention positively up to the secondary level. Further impetus is in demand to improve the teacher-pupil ratio, in-service teacher education, and reform in curriculum and digitalisation. The announcement made in 2018 to bring various schemes under one umbrella through the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan is expected to take shape in the upcoming Budget. Linked to these efforts is the launch of the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan—an Indian version of STEM education in the West—fostering creativity and enquiry within the areas of sciences, mathematics and technology. The previous funding of Rs 198 crore needs a solid top-up this time around to promote linkages between schools and institutes of higher education. Such programmes in advanced countries such as Australia and the US have a successful track record. The proposed launch of ‘Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) by 2022’, announced by Piyush Goyal in this year’s Interim Budget, deserves a stamp of approval.
In addition, a focus on girls’ education through Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao; Scheme to Provide Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM); the School Assessment Programme; and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching—through adequate funding—have the potential to reform education like never before. Linked to averting a learning crisis is the importance of investing in mother and childcare. Malnourishment, stunted growth and poor body-weight ratio among children under 5 years of age is a serious concern.
It seems the direction provided by the draft NEP 2019, the country’s commitment to UN SDGs, and rising people’s aspirations will drive the significant pronouncements for the education sector in the Budget speech on July 5. A Union Budget is not like a parent’s wallet doling out of pocket expenses to the offspring. It is about a vision, creating value for quality life, and how to raise robust human capital. It’s no wonder, then, that parents spend the most on the education of their children, of all the expenses. Should the first woman full-time finance minister not do the same?
(The author is a Delhi-based educationist)
Article first published in the Financial Express on June 24, 2019.
Comentarios