The Vice President Hamid Ansari has raised the issue of “reduced funding” in social sector for last two years. His contention is that present available expenditure on education is only 3.5 per cent of the GDP although the committed limit is 6 per cent. This, he believes, is leading to inability of parents to send their children to schools for education. This is a matter of great concern. It has to be said that 52 per cent of the budget for education was received by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) which is more than half the money under school education allocation in the latest budget. However over the last five years, funding for it has declined by six per cent, from Rs 23,873 crore in 2012-13 to Rs 22,500 crore for 2016-17. What also needs to be taken into account is the additional national level schemes that fall within the ambit of education, have been sponsored during last two or three years and more of these are in the offing. When development in educational area is brought under discussion, we need to take a comprehensive look of overall development and not remain focused on school education only. Also the private sector in education area has been receiving enormous support by the State in the form of grants-in-aid.
All this notwithstanding, there are no two opinions about the importance of education sector to the growth and development of society. In particular, educating the youth in rural areas is of immense importance and nobody can deny it. It has also to be noted that the Modi Government has laid special stress on providing avenues to the youth for acquiring skills in various trades enabling them to earn a living and thus overcome unemployment among the youth of the country. In our State, special provisions have been made for bringing education to the masses of the people especially those in rural areas. The level of literacy in the State has increased and high schools are available within a radius of 2-3 miles. As right to educational is the constitutional right of every Indian, the Government is responding to this Constitutional obligation by opening educational institutions including institutions of excellence all over the State. There is a fall in the school drop outs and also the number of students going for higher education is also increasing. Taken this overall picture of educational development in the country we think that the negligible decrease in social funding during past two years in comparison to what it was five years ago is not a cogent point. Special provisions to support deserving students especially from weaker sections of society by way of scholarships and maintenance allowance for higher professional education and training are also provided.
However, we do concede criticism, if there is one, about the quality of education. Some are of the opinion that the standard of education has fallen in recent years and many reasons are assigned to it. That is a different matter than the issue of reducing the allocations to school education sector. Slight decline in the standard of education is the fallout of declining moral standard of society and increase in materialistic pursuits that lead to corruption, and other social aberrations. That is a huge problem and mere improvement in educational standards cannot be a guarantee to promotion of moral and ethical values. If there is social orientation for raising the moral and ethical standards of the society, it will have natural impact on education as well.
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