Let’s not Starve our National Education Policy of Funds

Context: Achieving the goals set by National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) would call upon India to channel much greater resources into the sector.

Importance of educational investment:

• NEP says- "there is no better investment towards a society's future than the high quality of education of our young people" – reflects Amartya Sen's idea on education having both intrinsic & instrumental value.

Issues of inadequate funding in education

• Per-student spending is abysmally low, especially at the primary and secondary levels.
• Ambiguity over private investments: Terms like "private philanthropic activity in the education sector" and a "light but tight" regulatory approach have been liberally used by NEP without offering any clarity.
• Difficulty in mobilizing additional resources:
  • Either through taxation or by cutting expenditure/subsidies in other sectors.
  • Private investment prohibited by interference by investigating agencies and long court case.
• Lack of strong and unified lobbies in social sectors: to voice their demands and concerns, and make the government stick to its promise.
• Declining state governments expenditure: as a proportion of total government expenditure.

Way forward:

• Raising Public expenditure: to 6% of GDP as recommended by national policies since 1968, including NEP.
• Promoting private investment: Allowing private participation for profit, with proper regulation and subject to "reasonable supervision".
• Setting up the institutions and bodies: including the new regulatory architecture, envisioned by the NEP.
  • Set up the Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog and its state-level counterparts: Would help in addressing the need for much higher public spending on primary and secondary education, and for an expanding role of the private sector in tertiary education.

Conclusion: Education must be given the kind of importance that internal security or defence is accorded in India, in order to make NEP truly a game-changer for the Indian education sector.