Higher education is fine, but where are the teachers?

The prime status for education, specifically higher and technical education, in the 11th Plan is clear from the Economic Survey.

Though it talks of bringing an enacting legislation to implement a constitutional amendment guaranteeing right to education for the second year in a row, but the mood is substantially different this time.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's announcement that a Bill would be brought in the budget session has made HRD ministry work overtime to finalise the legislation. Already, a committee in the ministry is working on it with a short deadline.

For the first time, the economic survey devotes equal attention to primary, secondary and higher education sector by highlighting initiatives in these sectors that would further expand in the course of the 11th Plan. However, it is surprising to see the survey silent on the manpower crisis that higher education is facing, except that "out-of-box thinking" is required to ensure quality teachers.

Expansion of higher education without making teaching jobs attractive could result in a big crisis. However, the survey falls short of reiterating the PM's commitment or even admitting that a part of the expenditure for making right to education a reality can be covered by the highly successful Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

Instead, it says that even if right to education does not happen, the government is committed to providing good quality elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years.

In this regard, the achievement by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid-Day Meal Scheme and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya are noteworthy.

The survey talks of achievements already made by SSA — 1.70 lakh schools constructed, 7.13 additional classrooms, 1.72 lakh drinking water facilities, 2.18 toilets and free supply to 6.64 crore textbooks — and MDM that provides free food to 9.7 crore children.

The 11th Plan would witness MDM being extended to upper primary that would result in inclusion of 1.7 crore additional children of classes VI to VIII. SSA expects an allocation of more than Rs 13,000 crore this year and MDM approximately Rs 10,000 crore.

The two big highlights of the 11th Plan, as explained by the survey, are going to be universalisation of secondary education and expansion of higher education institutes.

Called Scheme for Universalisation of Access to Secondary Education (SUCCESS), it envisages mandatory secondary education to children in the age group of 15-16 years by 2015 and universal retention by 2020. It would be run on the lines of SSA.

The big story of this year's budget would be higher education with massive expansion plans to kick start from the next fiscal.

This includes work on eight new IITs, seven new IIMs, 10 new NITs, three Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, 20 IIITs and two new SPAs. Then, there is the plan for 14 world-class universities, 16 central universities and 370 new degree colleges.