Universalisation of elementary education in India: A distant dream?

Opportunities to pursue education are dependent upon the availability of adequate access. In the nation as a whole, primary educational facility is available to only to about 70-80 % of the eligible age group ( unto 14 years) of the children. Some of the states are not fortunate to reach even this capacity. At the other end there is increasing demand for education from large sections of people in India in the hope of attaining better quality of life and greater social equity. It is consider as a means of upward social mobility and greater economic security, especially from the first generation learners. Even the poorest of the poor is now willing to make personal sacrifices to provide education for their children. Changing social attitude such as providing opportunities for girls to obtain the highest possible levels of education, so as to enable them to acquire respectable statues in life, are also increasing the demand for education. Failure of government to provide access to education put a question mark on the government intension to achieve universalisation of elementary education and space for people’s aspiration in the government planning. After six decades of independence, despite the Constitutional mandate, repeated policy pronouncements by almost all governments and numerous major programmes being launched, the country is still far from achieving universal elementary education of a reasonable quality. The net enrollment rate at the primary level and net attendance ratios for both girls as well boys at the primary level require to be improved. At the level of secondary schooling, the enrollment rates for both girls as well as boys at the primary level require to be improved significantly. Today only about 61 % of the primary school entrants are able to reach grade 5 highlights the persistence of high dropout rates at the primary level of schooling. The number of drop out is higher in the case of Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Also, in most of these states, the dropout rates for Sc/ST/Girls are higher than that for boys. This led to widening the gap of access to school to deprived section of the society. The present government has promised to raise public expenditure on education to at least 6% of the GDP with at least half this amount to be spent on primary and secondary schools in a phased manner over the period of its rule. It also promised to introduce a cess on all Central taxes to finance the commitment to universalize access to quality basic education. Further, a national cooked nutritious Mid Day Meal schemes, funded mainly by the union government, to be introduced in primary and secondary schools, was also promised in the National common Minimum Programme. However, these promises have not translated into desired outcomes in terms of budgetary provisions in the three budgets presented by the present government. In fiscal year 2004-05, the government had introduced a cess on all kinds of taxes to be earmarked exclusively for elementary education. As the proceeds from this cess, the estimated revenue generated was around Rs 5010 crore during 2004-05 (RE) and Rs 7490 crore in 2005-06 (RE) and the same is expected to be Rs 8746 crore during 2006-7. It was expected that the Centre would increase its spending on the two flagship programmes, namely Sarva Siksha Abiyan (SSA) and Mid-day Meal scheme meant for universalising elementary education by at least the amount raised from imposition of education cess in access of the prevailing level of Union Government spending on education in 2003-04. However, the government did not spend the cess collected as additional allocations but it is claimed that the government is actually financing its regular expenditure on education through education cess. In 2004-05 (RE), expenditure on these two programmes was raised to Rs 6261.13 crore from Rs 4107 crore level in 2003-04 (RE) on the same. If we look critically the government expenditure on education above the amount collected through cess. The union government spends just about Rs 2856 Crore over and above the amount of education cess that was proposed to be collected in 2004-05. Similarly, in 2005-06 too the union government spends just about Rs.2687 Crore over and above the RE of education cess amount for the year. The same trend continues for the year 2006-07. T his shows that the UPA government is relying heavily on the instrument of Educational Cess to fund the Government, despite collecting a substantial amount of money from the common public for raising the expenditure on education, is not matching the same with increased funding from other sources than the education cess. If such a scenario persists, the accepted norm of expenditure on education, i.e. six percent of GDP or universalisation of Elementary education, would remain a distant dream.

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