Page 32 - EducationWorld Feb 2021 Low

Expert Comment

Budget 2021-22

ignores NEP 2020

PROTIVA KUNDU

EAR 2020 HAS BEEN EXCEPTIONAL — a year Though NEP 2020 was presented to the
unlike any other. Before the Covid-19 induced public after a gap of 34 years following
lockdown on March 25, India’s economy was
Yalready struggling. The national lockdown the reports of two high powered
plunged it into severe recession. Therefore, there was commissions, the Union Budget 2021-22
little headroom for Union finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman to substantially provide for social welfare doesn’t offer any substantial proposals
programmes in Union Budget 2021-22. to roll out the new education policy
With the pandemic having devastated the education
of millions of children, there was expectation of some
Covid-response measures and at least a minor increase has been reduced to Rs.11,500 crore in 2021-22 from the
of the education outlay in the first budget after rollout of revised estimate of Rs.12,900 crore in 2020-21.
the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 last July, and The budget has also slashed the allocation to the
a spirited statement of intent on an NEP implementation National Scheme for Incentive to Girls for Secondary
programme. Education to a mere Rs.1 crore from the Rs.110 crore in
Instead, the finance minister announced an outlay of 2020-21. The national interest demands that provision
Rs.93,224 crore for education, 6.13 percent lower than for pre-primary and K-12 education requires greater at-
the Rs.99,312 crore budgeted for 2020-21. Of this modest tention and focus as younger children have suffered most
allocation, Rs.54,874 crore is for school education and lit- during the pandemic. But Budget 2021-22 has relatively
eracy and Rs.38,350 crore for higher education. The share neglected school education.
of education in the total Union Budget has fallen from 3.3 And though NEP 2020 was presented to the public
percent in 2020-21 to 2.7 percent next year. Clearly public after a gap of 34 years and following the reports of two
education is not a high priority of the BJP/NDA govern- high-powered committees/commissions, the Union
ment at the Centre. government’s latest budget doesn’t offer any substantial
In this connection it’s pertinent to note that allocation proposals to support rollout of the new education policy.
of at least 6 percent of GDP (Centre plus states combined) The finance minister’s 110-minute budget speech referred
for public education has been recommended in every edu- to NEP 2020, and in Annexure V lists some initiatives
cation policy document, including NEP 2020. Despite this taken under the policy, but does not mention the funding
the Centre’s allocation for education in Budget 2021-22 is provided for them.
equivalent to a mere 0.42 percent of GDP. Evidently, the o implement NEP 2020, the education ministry had
Union government has shifted responsibility for educa- Tsubmitted a demand for Rs.10.37 lakh crore to the
tion financing to state governments. But with the latter 15th Finance Commission for the five-year period (2021-
also experiencing huge revenue loss due to the pandemic, 26). This translates into approximately Rs.2 lakh crore
it is very unlikely they will be able to step up investment per year. Not even half of this demand has been provided
in public education that accords prime importance to by Union Budget 2021-22.
early years education. Self-evidently, pre-primary and To educate India’s 300 million children and youth
primary school children who can forget what they have in schools and higher education, there’s urgent need to
learned in previous years and whose capabilities for continuously increase the budgetary allocations of the
self-learning are negligible, have been hit hardest by the education sector. The least the finance minister could
closure of schools for over ten months. have done is to raise the Centre’s allocation for education
In the circumstances, bringing youngest children back to 1 per cent of GDP from the current 0.42 percent, in
to school, making schools safe prior to their return, train- 2021-22.
ing teachers to manage stressed children and providing To attain this minimum target there is no option but
them nutritious in-school mid-day meals and emotional to increase the tax-GDP ratio. Moreover, the Centre could
rehabilitation, should have been a top national priority. resort to additional borrowings to repair the severe dam-
However, Budget 2021-22 seems oblivious of the Co- age that Indian education — public and private — has suf-
vid-19 pandemic. Two major flagship schemes — Samagra fered because of the Covid-19 pandemic. That it has not
Shiksha Abhiyan (SMSA, pre-primary to higher secondary only failed to provide additional funding but has reduced
schooling) and the critical free mid-day meal (MDM) for its outlay for developing the country’s neglected human
all children in government pre-primaries and primaries — capital, is a tragedy that will play out in years to come.
have suffered budget cuts. The 2021-22 budget for SMSA
is Rs.31,050 crore — a decline by 20 percent from the (Protiva Kundu is associate director of research at the Centre for Budget
budget estimates of 2020-21 and the allocation for MDM and Governance Accountability (CBGA), New Delhi)

32 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2021