Page 48 - EducationWorld October 2020

Cover Story

sin. Indeed, the recently released Na- culars, tax rebates, extending loan
tional Education Policy 2020 strongly moratoriums and kick-starting the
reiterates that all private schools and process of liberalising the education
HEIs must compulsorily be “not-for- sector apart, an immediate option
profit entities” and states the “current available to the Centre is to allocate 5
regulatory regime has not been able percent (Rs.1 lakh crore) of the prime
to curb the commercialisation and minister’s May 12 pandemic economic
economic exploitation of parents” by stimulus package to education as de-
“many” for-profit schools. manded by NISA. This could be uti-
“ THE PROLONGED CLOSURE for government school children, sani-
lised to create a digital access fund
of schools because of Co-
tisation and upgrading of toilet/wash/
vid-19 apprehension, and
ment schools, resumption of angan-
confusing circulars issued drinking water facilities of govern-
by various state governments about wadi services, and providing school
fees payment have pushed budget choice vouchers to children.
private schools to the edge of bank- Four months later, the govern-
ruptcy. Every day we get calls from Gupta: education liberalisation chance ment could follow up with a massive
private schools requesting us to find resource mobilisation drive in the
buyers and/or assist by arranging deep coma. With several state govern- Union Budget 2021-22 for invest-
term finance. The distress of private ments proscribing online education ment in education. Your editors have
schools would have been reduced if to youngest children as also suborn- repeatedly presented a regularly up-
the environment was more condu- ing young parents with fee deferment dated resource mobilisation schema
cive for private investment in educa- circulars, hundreds of standalone for one-time investment of Rs.8 lakh
tion. India’s K-12 education sector is private preschools countrywide have crore towards the education and pri-
heavily regulated and the ‘non-profit’ shut down. mary healthcare of the world’s largest
mandate makes it unattractive for pri- “Private ECCE centres have been child and youth population (see www.
vate investors. The current pandemic badly hit by the pandemic- induced educationworld.in/union-budget
crisis presents the government a good closure of education institutions. 2020-21-small-change-for-human-
opportunity to start the overdue lib- Our appeal to the Central and state capital-development/).
eralisation and deregulation of the governments is to withdraw diktats The World Bank estimates that be-
education sector and allow private which make fees payment optional, cause of learning loss in the pandemic
capital to flow in. There are many in- direct banks to extend moratorium era, children globally stand to lose $10
vestors ready and willing to bail out on rent/loans payments and give tax trillion (Rs.732 lakh crore) in labour
near-bankrupt private schools during rebates to preschool owners while en- earnings over the course of their work
this crisis. For instance during the couraging parents to enroll their chil- lives. To grasp the magnitude of this
past nine months, the Indian edtech dren for developmentally appropriate sum, it is one-tenth of global GDP.
industry has received private fund- virtual learning programmes pro- That’s why developed OECD coun-
ing of over $5 billion, highlighting vided by preschools,” says Dr. Swati tries have prioritised allocations for
that education is a favoured invest- Popat Vats, president of the Early education in their Covid-19 economic
ment sector,” says Rakesh Gupta, Childhood Association, which has a stimulus packages.
an alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur and In- membership of 38,000 preschools The national interest demands that
dian School of Business, Hyderabad, countywide. the BJP-NDA government urgently
former management consultant with Withdrawal of fees deferment cir- allocates budgetary resources to en-
McKinsey & Co and currently manag- sure learning continuity of 132 mil-
ing partner of the Hyderabad-based An immediate option lion children enrolled in 1.2 million
LoEstro Advisors which specialises in available to the Central government schools, and provides
counselling clients on strategy, fund- necessary concessions and support to
raising and M&A in the education, government is to allocate 5 ensure that the education of 119 mil-
healthcare and retail sectors. percent of its Rs.20.97 lakh lion children studying in the coun-
While mid-market and upscale pri- try’s 450,000 private schools is not
vate schools have smoothly switched crore pandemic economic disrupted. The alternative is that the
to online classes and BPS are on ven- stimulus package for socio-economic progress of 21st cen-
back, by several decades.
tilator support, a large number of pri- education tury India will be halted if not pushed
vate pre-primaries have slipped into

48 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2020