Budget Leaves Education Poorer By Rs 6000 Crore

New Delhi: Even as the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated learning loss for students and school dropout rates, the government’s proposed spending on education next year has been slashed by Rs 6,000 crore.

In the Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, the total allocation for education was cut by 6 per cent from Rs 99,311 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 93,224 crore — the lowest in three years.

School education took the biggest cut of almost Rs 5,000 crore. The allocation for higher education was decreased by around Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 38,350 crore this year.

The reduced spending also comes at the time when the Education Ministry is set to start implementing the new National Education Policy (NEP), which strongly advocates increasing government expenditure on education, The Indian Express reported.

Under school education, the Finance Ministry has allocated Rs 31,050 crore for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan as opposed to Rs 38,750 crore last year.

However, the government has increased its spending on the Midday Meal Scheme by Rs 500 crore this year to Rs 11,500 crore. Allocation for central schools such as Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas also rose by Rs 1,284 crore and Rs 500 crore, respectively. That apart, the government announced the establishment of 100 new Sainik Schools in partnership with NGOs, private schools and state governments.

Although educational institutions were closed for at least six months since the pandemic struck, the Finance Minister’s speech had no announcements on either recovering learning loss, re-enrolment campaigns or targeted support for children who are at risk of not returning to school.

The government also cut funding for the Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA), rendering it defunct for all practical purposes. Only Rs 1 crore has been allocated to the agency this year — a sharp drop from Rs 2,100 crore in 2020-21.

Notably, the HEFA, which was incorporated in 2017, is meant to mobilise funds from the market and offer 10-year loans to central educational institutions (CEIs) for infrastructure development.

The reduction in education budget isn’t entirely surprising given that a World Bank report in May 2020 had predicted that low to middle income countries may cut spending on education to make space for the required spending on health and social protection.

Also Read: Centre Signs Pact With World Bank To Improve School Education In Odisha, 5 Other States