Chandan Srivastava
The budget for education has increased slightly but remember that it has increased only a little, not much. In this way, understand that in the last budget there was a promise to spend Rs 93224 crore for education, so this time the size of the promise has increased a bit. In this budget, the central government has expressed its intention to spend Rs 104278 for education.
Should I be a little happy about this little growth? There is no ban on being happy, but one should avoid being happy, so before becoming happy, consider some facts. One is that even though this year’s education budget is of six figures as compared to five points of the last education budget (2021-22), but the story of ‘Kum dena – more tell’ remains the same. Recall that two years ago i.e. in 2020-21, an amount of Rs 99,311 crore was allocated for education.
If the amount increased by how much?
So, you can also say that this government has shown the courage to spend on the education front two years ago, this time it has gone ahead by only an inch– has increased by Rs. 1 thousand crores. If the budget of this time seems to be increased from the previous budget (2021-22), then it is because in the budget of 2021-22 that there is a decrease of 6 thousand crores (from 99 thousand crores) in comparison to the education budget of 2020-21. 93 thousand crores).
Secondly, even though the allocation of Rs 93224 crore has been made in the budget of the last (2021-22), but the revised estimate i.e. Revised Estimate (according to the facts of the budget of 1 February 2022) has come down to Rs 88,002. And as far as 99 thousand crore rupees allocated in the budget of 2020-21 is concerned, according to the facts of this budget, the actual expenditure on education in the year 2020-21 could be only Rs 84219.
Budget 2022: What is the difference between Digital Rupee and Digital Assets, how will they be taxed? Finance Minister himself has given the answer
To put it simply, the amount that the government promises to give for education at the beginning of the financial year, by the end of the financial year, there is a shortfall of Rs 5-10 crore. Sometimes 100% of the total budget allocated is rarely spent. This has been the story of the last decade. In the last decade, it has not happened in any year that more than 3 percent of the central expenditure should be spent on education, whereas in the new and old national education policy, it has been said that at least 6 percent of the country’s GDP. Percentage should be spent on education.
Education Budget: Online Education
The budget for the year 2022 has been presented at a time when history is repeating itself on the education front. Schools, colleges, universities are closed under the influence of Omicron. It was the same last time – early February, schools, colleges, coaching centers were all closed due to the second wave of COVID. When Coronabandi was opened in a phased manner, schools and colleges opened but now in the midst of the third wave of COVID, they have again come to the same old online pattern.
The pattern of online education has radically changed the world of education and the Finance Minister has given enough time in the budget speech on this new change in the field of education. Emphasizing on digital education, he said in the budget speech that a digital university will be created so that students from across the country can get quality world-class universal education sitting at home. The Finance Minister also said that this education provided from the digital university would be available in all Indian languages.
In the same sequence, the Finance Minister also talked about preparing quality e-content of the students and taking this content to the students through radio, TV, mobile phone and internet. Under PM e-Vidya, the program of one class-one TV channel which is being provided through 12 channels, the matter of making it available on 200 TV channels also came to the fore in the budget speech. The Finance Minister argued that by providing one class-one TV program from 200 channels, the states would be facilitated, they would be able to provide supplementary education in regional languages to the students of class I to XII.
Thought is noble, but in this third phase of COVID-era, have we been able to mold the vast education world of the country in such a way that programs like One Class One TV should reach all schools? How many students studying in classes I to XII in the country have smartphones, tablets or laptops, etc., that dreams of providing quality educational e-content are being woven to them?
A report by the Ministry of Education
In the beginning of October last year, a report of the Ministry of Education came out named Initiatives by the School Education Sector in 2020-21. Based on the facts of this report, news was made that 40 to 70 percent of school going students in the seven big states of the country namely Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand have no means of digital access.
In Madhya Pradesh 70 percent students are deprived of digital access and in Bihar 58 percent students. The government failed to provide digital access to 57 percent students in Andhra Pradesh and 44 percent in Assam. Jharkhand, (43.42%), Uttarakhand (41.17%) and the wealthy state of Gujarat (40%) also have more than 40 students deprived of digital access. These students do not have any digital device to access the e-content.
Prior to this report of the Ministry of Education (September 2021), a team of researchers led by economist Jean Dreze had made public the facts of the Emergency Report on School Education based on a survey conducted on online and offline education of school children. According to this report, based on the survey conducted in a total of 15 states of the country, 37 percent of the students of rural areas have dropped out during the Corona period and only 8 percent of the students in rural areas of the country are able to study online. The facts of the report revealed that however much the drums of online education are being beaten, its reach is very limited.
At the time of the survey for the report, only 24 per cent of students in urban areas were studying online while in rural areas only 8 per cent were studying online. One of the major reasons for this was the lack of digital access devices for children, such as smartphones. Even in homes that had smartphones, children were not able to connect online during the school’s scheduled study time because the only smartphone available was used by the adult members of the household at that time.
A program like One Class One TV is being run, but there should be a classroom to keep the TV. Data from DISE (District Information System for Education) shows that 59,400 school buses run in one room in India. There are a total of 1 lakh 20 thousand schools where more than 50 students sit together and in many schools, students of many classes sit together.
We should talk about providing TV to every class when students come to the school. The country’s school education infrastructure is so weak that keeping in mind the requirements of the corona period (eg, physical distance between students), if the schools follow the rules (eg, physical distance between students or frequent hand washing) Can’t even be opened.
In order to open a school during the Corona period, it is necessary that there should be adequate provision of clean drinking water, toilets etc. Since the beginning of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, till now the provision of separate toilets for boys and girls in schools has not been 100 percent. Schools have toilets available for boys in 94 per cent of cases and for girls in 92 per cent of cases. The number of schools with effective drinking water facility is still 89% in the country. If we combine these three facilities related to effective drinking water facility, toilet facility and hand washing facility i.e. cleanliness, then together you will get 54 percent of the number of schools with these three facilities in the country.
After going through these figures, you yourself think that how many students will be able to download the e-content of the university being made for online education and how many students will be able to reach the school to watch the TV sets delivered in the classroom?
(The author is an expert in agriculture and economic matters)
,