It is surprising that data on public expenditure on the education sector is not readily available.
In the current budget session, how much money the central and state governments will allocate for education and for what purpose should be a matter of public concern and debate. Even before the pandemic, public spending on education in most states was lower than in other middle-income countries. According to the Ministry of Education, most of the major states spend between 2.5% to 3.1% of the state’s income on education Analysis of budget expenditure on education, This compares with 4.3% of GDP that lower-middle income countries spent as a group between 2010-11 and 2018-19. Low-income countries increased their spending from 3.2% of GDP to 3.5% over the same period (World Bank, Education Finance Watch, 2021,
spending on education
Faced with an unprecedented education emergency, it is time to substantially increase public spending on education and make it more effective. Inexplicably, however, in the budget for 2021-22, amid the most severe education crisis, the trend was in the opposite direction for the central government and several state governments. The central government’s allocation for the education department was reduced compared to the previous year, even though the size of the overall budget has increased. Eight of the major states and Delhi either reduced or almost retained their budget allocations for education departments in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21. Seven states increased their allocations marginally by 2%-5%. Only six states increased their allocations by more than 5%, though it remains to be seen how the actual expenditure compares with the budget allocation.
The education system now not only needs to channelize resources for many years, but also needs to address the needs of the poor and underprivileged children. Most of the 260 million children enrolled in preschool and school, especially in government schools, did not have meaningful structured learning opportunities during the 20 months following school closure. They have lost basic literacy and numeracy skills and even the habit of learning. Lakhs of people have been deprived of education due to lack of contact with teachers. When schools began to reopen in October, they were still running at half-time. Some states have still not opened primary schools. In anticipation of the Omicron wave, state governments rushed to close primary schools in early January 2022, contrary to all international trends.
An increase in public spending alone is a necessary but not sufficient condition for addressing all these problems. What it is spent on and how resources are used effectively are important. It is clear what additional resources are needed. Requirements include: campaign behind the school and re-enrollment campaign; Expanded nutrition program to address malnutrition; restructuring the curriculum to help children learn language and math, in particular, and to support their socio-emotional development, especially in the early classes; additional learning materials; teacher training and ongoing support; additional education programs and increased teaching time during holidays and weekends; Additional teachers and teaching aides where necessary to deal with transfer of students from private schools; and collection and analysis of data.
Many state governments and the central government have been spending public resources on using technology in education. This is a good time to ask how much public resources were being spent on technology and how effective it was during the pandemic, when less than 20% of all students could even access pre-recorded video. How does the expenditure on technology compare with the amount spent on teacher training, which is just 0.15% of the total estimated expenditure on elementary education? Teachers are at the heart of the quality of education, so why does India spend so little on teacher training?
The disaster caused by the pandemic could be an opportunity to reverse the chronic under-funding of India’s public education system. UNESCO’s 2030 Framework for Action puts the level of public education spending at between 4% and 6% of GDP and 15%-20% of public expenditure. A recent study by the World Bank states that India spent 14.1% of its budget on education, compared to 18.5 percent in Vietnam and 20.6% in Indonesia among countries with similar levels of GDP. But since India has a higher share of the population under the age of 19 than these countries, it should actually allocate a higher share of the budget than these countries.
data opacity
How does India’s public education expenditure “effort” compare with UNESCO’s indicative benchmark? The ambiguity of education finance data makes it difficult to understand. For example, according to the Economic Survey for 2020-21, the combined central and state government spending on education was estimated to be 2.8% of GDP in 2018-19. This figure remained at the same level since 2014-15. On the other hand, data from the Ministry of Education indicated that public spending on education had reached 4.3% of GDP in the same year, growing from 3.8% of GDP in 2011-12.
The difference in figures is due to the inclusion of expenditure on education by departments other than the education department. For example, the inclusion of expenditure on education by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (on Anganwadis, scholarship, etc.), Ministry of Science and Technology (for higher education) is certainly legitimate. But many other departments include a smorgasbord. At least 43 ministries and departments of the central government should spend on education. Education expenditure by other departments is increasing at a faster rate than the education department at both the central and state level. They account for one-fourth of the education expenditure by the states and half of the Centre’s expenditure on education in 2018-19.
However, the structure of these expenses is not readily available. There are rough estimates for public expenditure on elementary education (about 1.8% of GDP) and for other levels of education. The reason is that education expenditure of departments other than the Ministry of Education is not shown by level. They are assigned somewhat arbitrarily to different levels of education and are estimated by the central government. The estimation of education expenditure by other departments of the state governments is even more awkward, as they do not even make provision for separate expenditure on education. The ratio of education expenditure to other departments at the central level is used to estimate it for each state.
In this age of data influx, it is surprising that data on public expenditure on the education sector is not readily available. But the questions of this budget should be clear. How much additional funds are being allocated for different levels of education by major departments in 2021-22? Is money being spent on specific measures needed to address the education emergency facing children deprived of educational opportunities?
Sajita Bashir is a former education manager and advisor to the World Bank and a key member of the National Coalition on the Education Emergency.
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