Dampener on Indian education

Funds, faculty and freedom are the sine qua non for the health of higher education. Of these, the adequate and timely availability of funds is considered critical. Higher education community, therefore, keenly waits for Budget announcements with eager expectation. The Union Budget 2018-19 aroused hope with the announcement that the focus shall be on improving the quality of education and that a massive sum shall be invested for strengthening the infrastructure for higher education and research. Alas, a deeper look at the financial allocation for the education sector douses such desires. 

Announcement of Rs 1 lakh crore investment for upgrading and strengthening infrastructure in higher education over the next four years made one expect that at least a fourth of it would be provided for in the Budget, but the expenditure budget hardly has any such provision. Even allocation for Higher Education Funding Authority (HEFA), which was proposed to be ‘suitably restructured’ to give effect to this investment, is found pegged at only Rs 2,750 crore. Does this mean that during the next financial year, the government only intends to work out the details and that the money would flow from future years only? One may have to wait for the full details to emerge in this regard, but it appears that this additional investment in higher education might come through lending, which would only mean creating financial liabilities for the future and thereby further raising the cost of higher education in times to come, if not immediately. The assurance of improving quality in education, replacing blackboards with digital boards, and establishing new higher education and school level institutions also do not appear to be adequately provided for.

A closer analysis of the Budget estimates reveals that the allocation for the education sector in FY2018-19 has been only marginally increased by 6.3 per cent over Budget estimates (BE) 2017-18 and by just 3.7 per cent over the revised estimates (RE) of 2017-18. The school sector is still better off with an overall increase of 7.3 and 6.0 per cent over BE 2017-18 and RE 2017-18, respectively, as compared to the higher and technical education with a minuscule increase of 4.8 per cent over BE 2017-18 and a paltry enhancement of only 0.4 per cent over RE 2017-18. Discounted for inflation, the allocation in real terms shall show only a declining trend.

Allocation for UGC, which is responsible for allocating resources to higher educational institution, has been pegged at Rs 4,722.75 crore, which is essentially a reduction by 5.7 per cent over RE 2017-18. Worst affected seems to be the IITs whose allocation has been reduced by 24.2 and 30.3 per cent over BE 2017-18 and RE 2017-18, respectively. The central universities are only a notch better, but their allocation has also been reduced by 0.6 and 12.7 per cent over BE 2017-18 and RE 2017-18, respectively. Assuming that the allocation under the head ‘world class universities’ is intended for financing the already notified scheme of ‘institutions of eminence’ under which ten public universities are promised a sum of Rs 1,000 crore each, requiring Rs 10,000 crore, the provision is only to the tune of Rs 250 crore. Allocation for Rashtrya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) has indeed been pegged higher by 7.1 per cent. So has been the case with regard to the allocation for the Interest Subsidy scheme, which is higher by 9.3 per cent.

Rapid expansion in higher education has caused a large number of small-sized universities and colleges over a short span of time to become economically and academically non-viable.  The situation calls for concerted efforts for their consolidation aimed at improving their quality. Simultaneously, despite massive expansion, the regional imbalances and access by the socially and economically weaker sections of the society also needs to be addressed through further expansion in higher education capacity.  Student-Teacher Ratio (STR) being abnormally higher than the desired limit has an obvious impact on the quality of higher education and calls for immediate correction through the creation of new faculty positions. All these make a strong case for enhanced investment in higher education.

While government expenditure on education by the Centre and States has gone up from Rs 3.41 lakh crore in 2012-13 to Rs 4.41 lakh crore in 2017-18 (BE), it is disquieting that the total government expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP has declined from 3.1 per cent to 2.7 per cent during the corresponding period. Besides, the share of expenditure on education in the total governmental expenditure on all sectors has also witnessed a decline from 11.60 per cent in 2012-13 to about 10 per cent in 2017-18 (BE). Further, the share of education in the total expenditure on social sector too has come down from 47.50 per cent in 2012-13 to only 40.30 per cent in 2017-18 (BE). 

Indeed, the relative importance accorded to education seems to be a casualty, which does not augur well for higher education and arguably for the nation, if India’s destiny is made in its classrooms, as Kothari Commission has said in 1964.

The author is Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU); views are personal.