Edu boost: Govt fails to read writing on the wall

Updated on: Thursday, March 03, 2011

If one analyses the fine print of the education budget, the finance minister’s talk of “demographic dividend” is just big talk.

Increase in allocation to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)—the vehicle for implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act—from Rs 15, 000 crore to Rs 21, 000 crore does not reveal the correct picture. Revised estimate for the SSA in 2010-11 had increased to Rs 19, 000 crore after the RTE came into force. So, effectively, the increase is Rs 2, 000 crore.

Madhav Chavan of NGO Pratham said, “The overall increase in elementary education from last year’s Rs 26, 000 to Rs 29, 000 crore is good enough only for inflation adjustment.”

The bigger problem with elementary education allocation is the way the government has abdicated its responsibility. Nearly Rs 18, 000 crore to elementary education comes not from gross budgetary support, but through Prathmik Shiksha Kosh—the non-lapsable fund where two per cent education cess is collected.

Following protests from the HRD ministry, the mid-day meal scheme has got Rs 10, 380 crore compared to last year’s Rs 9, 440 crore.

Edu boost: Govt fails to read writing on the wall

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