Budget – A lost opportunity for education sector?

Posted by Ninad on March 2, 2010 under All Posts | Read the First Comment

The Finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, made his Budget speech in the Parliament today – 26th February, 2010.

Most of the corporate world had very low expectations from the Budget. However, the education sector was expected to receive a strong boost in this Budget. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

It was refreshing to see “Education” being mentioned in the Budget speech a couple of times. I have been following the Budget speeches for many years now and I have never heard Education being mentioned so often in the Budget speech.

Also, in the initial portion of the speech, the Finance Minister mentioned about government being an enabler. I thought that this was a precursor to a substantial announcement on a PPP model for the Education sector. Alas, that did not happen.

The only real substantial announcement for the Education sector was the increase in outlay for school education from Rs. 26,000 crores to Rs. 31,000 crores.

Is this increase of Rs. 5000 crores good? Yes. Is it good enough? Certainly not!

Other than this, there is nothing in the Budget for the Education sector.

There is a special mention in the Budget for the infrastructure sector, which has received a whooping Rs. 173,000 crores. Compare this to the spend on Education sector – it is really inadequate.

So, what could have been done? A lot – here are some thoughts:

• Education sector could have been declared as an Infrastructure sector. Ultimately, it is social infrastructure or soft infrastructure.
• A better framework is required for educational loans to needy students. We need to move from the collateral based education loan system to a government guaranteed loan system prevalent in the US, where more than 80 per cent of the loans are given on this basis.
• Implementation of the Right to Education Act requires massive funding, which should be addressed.
• Weaker sections of society need more inclusive support in terms of bridging the skill gaps required to seek admission in higher learning institutions.
• Higher education also needs a massive dose of funding.
• PPP model for education needs to be spelt out as a clear policy objective.

There is a lot more that can be done. Hopefully, we don’t need to wait till the next Budget to see some of these initiatives being implemented by the government.