The finance minister has allocated Rs52,057 crore for education, an increase of 24% over the current year. Education experts have welcomed the increase. But CRY points out that while the increase is mostly from the education cess collected, the government’s own allocation has actually dropped to Rs7,096 crore from Rs7,769 crore

Moneylife Digital Team

The education sector has received considerable attention in the Budget as finance minister Pranab Mukherjee increased allocation for education by 24% in the Budget.

 Mr Mukherjee has allocated Rs52,057 crore for education, an increase of 24% over the current year. Education experts have welcomed the outlay for education.

 “The education sector has got a good allocation with a rise of 24% to Rs 52,057 crore over the last year. This is a positive sign for the education sector. Even though the focus was mainly on agriculture and the infrastructure sectors, the education sector has got a fair share in the Union Budget,” said Prof KV Iyer, dean, United World School of Business, Hyderabad.

 “Our ‘demographic dividend’ of a relatively younger population compared to developed countries is as much of an opportunity as it is a challenge. Over 70% of Indians will be of working age in 2025. In this context, universalising access to secondary education, increasing the percentage of our scholars in higher education and providing skill training is necessary,” the Finance Minister said.

 He said the existing operational norms of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan have been revised to implement the right of children to free and compulsory education, which has come into force with effect from 1 April 2010. The finance minister has proposed to allocate Rs21,000 crore, which is 40% higher than last year allocation, for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, for FY2011-12.

 Child Rights and You (CRY), however, have expressed disappointment over the allocations for children in the Union Budget 2011-2012. “The allocations on elementary education have been increased to Rs29,129.55 crore, an increase of 16.21% over the last year. So, the Finance Minister’s claim of a 24% increase in allocations for education is not applicable for elementary education. As for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the allocation in 2011-12 is Rs20,999.78 crore, over last year’s revised estimate Rs8999.10 crore. Thus, it is an increase of only 10.53% as against Finance Minister’s claim of a 40% increase. Another thing to note in this increase is coming from the Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh (from the education cess) while the government’s own allocation for education has gone down from Rs7,769.10 crore (Revised Estimate 2010-11) to Rs7,096.15 crore (Budget Estimate 2011-12),” said CRY in a statement.

The government will also implement a revised Centrally sponsored scheme ‘Vocationalisation of Secondary Education’ from 2011-12 to enhance the employability of youth.

“The allocation for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of Rs21,000 crore will give the much needed boost to the education sector,” P Kishore, managing director, Everonn Education, India’s second largest listed education company, told Moneylife.

 “With the increase in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan budget of 40% to Rs 21,000 crore, we definitely see a much larger role for the private sector in K-12 and Teacher Training space built around the PPP (public-private-partnership) model,” Sanjeev Mansotra, chairman and MD, Core Projects & Technologies, told Moneylife.

 The finance minister has also proposed to introduce a scholarship scheme for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes studying in classes ninth and tenth in FY2011-12.

 “Mr Mukherjee’s step to introduce a scholarship scheme is praiseworthy as it would benefit about 40 lakh students,” added Mr Kishore.

The proposed National Knowledge Network (NKN), which will link 1,500 institutes of higher learning and research in India, will connect 190 institutes by March this year, while the rest will be connected to the network by March 2012.

 “The NKN initiative shows the government’s inclination to reach quality education to the students irrespective of their geographies,” said Mr Kishore.

 For FY2011-12, the government has proposed to provide special grants to recognise excellence in universities and academic institutions.

 He has proposed to allocate Rs50 crore each to the upcoming centres of the Aligarh Muslim University at Murshidabad in West Bengal and Malappuram in Kerala, Rs100 crore as a one-time grant to the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University at Pookode, Kerala; and Rs200 crore as a one-time grant to IIT, Kharagpur.

 Mr Mukherjee has also proposed to allocate Rs20 crore for the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, and Rs200 crore for the Maulana Azad Education Foundation.

 “This is indeed a great encouragement for universities and institutes to continuously innovate or update their facilities,” said Mr Iyer.