Indian government may double higher education budget

The government will have to more than double its budget allocation for higher education during the 11th Five-Year Plan if it accepts the recommendations of academic bodies that are working out a "proper" budget allocation for higher education.

The Planning Commission, say sources, has okayed the Moily committee's recommendation of allocating Rs 17,000 crore towards higher education.

However, the allocation does not take in to account funding for the state universities and the affiliated colleges which form 90 per cent of India's higher education.

A majority of the allocated budget is supposed to be utilised for the expansion of 27 per cent of quota in the institutes of excellence -- the IITs, IIMs, agricultural universities, medical universities and central universities -- leaving state universities and affiliated colleges high and dry.

Professor Sudhanshu Bhushan of the National Institute of Educational Planning & Administration ( NIEPA), says: "At this juncture, it is very important for the government to increase the allocation of higher education.

If India wants to have a competitive edge in the international education scenario and upgrade the skilled manpower, higher education needs funding for the larger base rather than for few selected institutions."

There are 17,600 colleges across India. Of this 14,000 colleges and university departments provide general education in basic science, arts and commerce.

At present, 6,000 colleges and university departments are being funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC). There are plans to bring the remaining 8,600 colleges also within UGC's purview at a later date.

Academicians say these colleges would alone need around Rs 30,000 crore of plan support to meet the needs of additional infrastructure and improvement in quality.

"The plan allocation to higher education has reached its rock bottom at seven per cent of the total plan allocation to education during 10th plan. Over the last decade, the per capita public expenditure on higher education has also declined by 25 per cent in real terms" adds Bhushan.

Even the estimate of Rs 30,000 crore may not be adequate if one takes into consideration the Tapas Majumdar Committee Report (November 2005) that recommended the allocation for education needed to be raised to six per cent of the GDP by the beginning of the 11th plan and then continually raised to cross the level of 10 per cent of the GDP by 2014-15.

Going beyond the six per cent becomes necessary in order to fill up the cumulative gap that had been building up as a consequence of under-investment year after year since Independence.

The report suggests that of the six per cent of the GDP allocated to education, three per cent should go to elementary education (for implementing the Right to Education Bill), 1.5 per cent to secondary education, one per cent to higher education, and 0.5 per cent to technical education.

If this was done, the proposed increase in seats of professional institutions could be effected without diverting resources away from elementary education.

Juxtaposing elementary education against secondary or higher education, as is the emerging policy perception, is detrimental to national interest since India needs a balanced development of all sectors of education.

Source: Business StandardMore

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