Prioritize Education and Health

The central government presented its budget on Feb 1, 2022 and the state government of Rajasthan did the same on Feb 23. The annual budget is the road map of the progress of the country for the year ahead and afterwards. Every citizen has some expectation from it. As a teacher, I also look forward to the same and expect some road map for the development of Indian education. However unfortunately, there are little deliberations about the same by print media and news channels. While going through the reference note no. 21/RN/Ref./2014, which was published for the members of parliament, I read that as per Kothari Education Commission’s recommendations (1966), wherein commission estimated the financial requirement of the educational system in India up to 1985-86. As per the recommendations of the commission, “If education is to develop adequately, the proportion of Gross National Product (GNP) allocated to education will rise…. to 6.0 percent in 1985-86”. This recommendation of the Kothari Commission was accepted by government of India in the national educational policy on education in 1966.  Though all my learned readers would know the difference between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Product(GNP) but for the sake of removing the confusion I would like to state the difference between the two. GDP measures the final value of goods and services produced within a country`s borders by its citizens and also non-citizens while GNP measures the value of goods and services produced by a county`s own citizens both domestic and abroad. As per the reference letter mentioned above the level of total public spending in the country (considering the spending by not just education departments at the center and in the states but also by other departments that spend on educational services) works out to be around 3.5 percent of the GDP (2010-11. You can see that this proportion falls well short of 6.0 percent of the GDP as recommended by Kothari commission and reiterated by CABE (central advisory board of education). Though as per the note the proportion of union budget shows percentage increase while states` share has decreased. However, we must remember that center bears only one fourth of the total government spending on education and remaining three fourth is shared by the states. 

You must be wondering whether I am trying to teach you economics. Not at all, because I do not have much knowledge of the same but as a teacher and also a citizen of the country, I do have curiosity to know what importance is given to the education sector in the budget. When I tried to collect authentic information from the people whom I consider experts in this field, I could understand that not much erudition was available with them. I have been part of the school education (as a teacher) for about four decades now and did not ever seriously thought of knowing how much importance is given to the education sector in union and state budgets. Although this may not directly impact but the fact is that it does affect everyone directly and indirectly. We have been reading and listening that one of the most important tasks of the state is to provide education and health. But for the last few decades focus and discussion about the budget has been mostly on what relief has been provided to which group of the people. Who would be provided free housing and subsidized food without realizing that these are short term solutions to the problems of the people. The long term solution lies in the improvement and reach of the education to all. The divide between rich and the poor will keep widening until we focus on the education sector. I am trying to understand how much of the budget allocated for the education sector is untiled for the better preparation and availability of good teachers. How much percentage is used for the infrastructure which improves the learning of the children? Unfortunately, figures are not so easily available in the public domain. Our governments often release figures how farmers have availed the benefit of loan waiver. They also talk how many people have been distributed free rations, free housing, free bicycle, freeride in the buses and the list goes on which rarely include how many schools have been opened. How many teachers` training institutes have been established (It was heartening to note that  the CM of Rajasthan, in the budget presented on 23 Feb announced opening of around 2000 new English medium schools).

Another important aspect of the education which is usually ignored, almost completely, is the contribution of the private sector. Budget does have mention of the contribution of industries and roadmap is drawn to support them. But there is no effort to take private and government sector in education work in tandem so that maximum (if not all) of the children have access to not only the education but quality education. If the private sector in education is not seen with suspicion and some incentives are given, then many philanthropists would come forward. The concept of public private partnership (PPP which was once talked about in Rajasthan) can be of great help. The rules and laws should be such that real investors in the field of education are supported and the ones coming for only profiteering are dissuaded. The other better option can be that our existing government schools are raised to that quality level so that common people do not need to go to private schools if they find them expensive and beyond what they can afford. Private institutions have contributed significantly and the ones which did not focus on quality and had different motive could not survive for long.

An important person of a party while releasing the manifesto for election in particular state mentioned that the party, if voted to power, would not allow the increase in fee of the private institutions. This is a welcome step but two things which were not told are: how will these institutions function because the impact of inflation is felt by everyone and if the private institutions are unable to cope up with inflation and salary increase (which is a major expenditure) and close down, then where will the students go? It would be worth if the political parties do not always see the election as the only motive of their policies. If the governments have strong will then there are all possibilities of improving government schools’ quality as has been done by the present Delhi Government.

Nevertheless, all this is possible only when the education is given the priority as it deserves. Sh. Jyotirao Phule (11 April 1827-28 Nov 1890) once said “Without education wisdom was lost, without wisdom, morals were lost, without morals development was lost, without development wealth was lost, without wealth shudras were ruined, so much has happened through lack of education.” This was said by him in 18^th century but seems to be relevant today also. The last two years have further multiplied the problem and unfortunately not much is being done to take care of the loss added to already vulnerable condition of the education. How do we not prioritize or take care of our school education is evident for the recent steps/decisions taken by different governments? The schools remained closed for most of the period during last two years and now when all the activities have been opened and allowed to function with full capacity, the schools are still last in the list. Even if allowed to open, then also not for all the students. In states, which allowed reopening schools for children, gave option of online classes, unfortunately some parents are also not realizing the importance of real education. Their interest seems to be that their children are promoted to the next class. Honorable Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by some activists and the students to do away with the offline exams of classes X and XII. In our country, we still have a large number of students who study only when there is an exam. So even if there were online classes they would have learnt (may not to the extent of physical classes). A few days back some group in Maharashtra had instigated group of students to fight against examination. It would have been really worthwhile if all would have come together for better learning of the students.

An article by Sh Miklind Sohoni in IE newspaper is an eye opener for all those who consider education as the key to empowering the people. He gives the data of the students seeking admission to foreign universities and the amount being paid by them to those universities. He writes that approximately eight lacs students seek admission outside every year and spend around $28 billion which is one percent of our GDP. Out of this $6 billion (INR 45000 crore) is in the form of fees. This is adequate capital to open 10 new IITs, JNUs or any such reputed institution every year. I am sure the data collected by him is authentic so why should the people in responsible position not pay heed to this. These are do-ables but for that, the quality of education in our colleges and universities must improve and this can happen only when education is top priority along with health. 

In the end, I would like to say that a lot has been achieved in the field of education but if this was given a priority and importance by all (including the teachers and parents) our achievements would have scaled to a much higher level not only in education but also in all other areas. Let us come together so all our children get best of the education and the divide between rich and poor, which is widening continuously, ceases to exist or is narrowed down to the minimum.