Page 44 - EW March 2021

Cover Story

steep fall in tax revenue, finance min-
ister Sitharaman had no option but to
slash government expenditure under
several heads to contain the fiscal defi-
cit which has soared to Rs.18.48 lakh
crore (9.5 percent of GDP) in 2020-21
to reduce it to Rs.15.06 lakh crore (6.8
percent of GDP) next year.
N the low priority given to
OT SURPRISINGLY GIVEN

human capital develop-
ment by post-indepen-
dence India’s political class, the
bureaucracy and compliant establish-
ment, including the academy, the axe
has been applied to the social welfare
sector, and education in particular.
This time round because of the Sitharaman: “unprecedented contraction” Seetharamu: human capital neglect
pandemic, the Centre’s outlay for pub-
lic health has been raised to Rs.2.23 tion centres for lactating mothers and outlay for education has been reduced
lakh crore in 2021-22 from the bud- newborns which also provide rudi- by Rs.6,000 crore at a time when the
geted Rs.94,452 crore (and the actual mentary early childhood education digital divide between students in
revised estimate of Rs.78,866 crore) to 85 million children in the 0-6 age private and government schools has
of 2020-21. Consequently, educa- group from the poorest strata, closed, been exacerbated. Over 40 percent of
tion has had to bear the brunt. The an estimated 90 million youngest chil- in-school children have been denied
Centre’s outlay for public education dren are in grave danger of forgetting online education during the pandem-
has been reduced by Rs.6,088 crore what they’ve painstakingly learned. ic. If due to prevailing constraints, the
from Rs.99,312 crore budgeted for Moreover, 85 million infants are in BJP/NDA government couldn’t pro-
2020-21 to Rs.93,224 crore (revised danger of experiencing malnutrition vide for the education of the country’s
to Rs.85,089 crore) in 2021-22. because AWCs also provide a free children, the least it could have done
To reignite the engines of business, mid-day meal to their children (see was to invite private sector invest-
industry and commerce, the finance EW February 15 cover feature https:// ment. Ultimately it is the interest of
minister and North Block bureau- www.educationworld.in/pandemic- children that is paramount. Govern-
crats have gambled on heavy capital thunderbolt-endangers-early-years- ment should have used this occasion
investment in public infrastructure education/). to acknowledge the important role of
— according to Dr. Kri s h n amur - In the circumstances, not a few ed- affordable budget private schools in
t h y S ub rama i an , chief economic ucationists believe that special provi- raising teaching-learning standards
n
advisor to the Union government, a sion to make good the massive learn- in primary-secondary education and
rupee invested in public infrastruc- ing deficit and well-being of youngest invited their cooperation. Children
ture adds Rs.2.5 to GDP. Nevertheless children should have been made by are the future of the nation. There-
liberal economists believe that invest- Sitharaman. Instead, the outlay for fore, everything possible has to be
ment in human capital development the Centre’s Samagra Shiksha Abhi- done to ensure that their education
should have been given equal — if not yan (pre-primary to higher secondary) continues one way or the other. Bud-
greater — attention in Budget 2021- schooling has been slashed from the get 2021-22 has shown no awareness
22 because the national lockdown, Rs.38,860 crore budgeted for 2020-21 of this,” laments Dr. A .S . S e e t h ar -
and especially comprehensive closure to Rs.31,300 crore next year. amu, former professor of education
of all education institutions from pre- “The Union Budget 2021-22 is un- at the Institute of Social and Economic
primaries to universities countrywide, imaginative and lacklustre. While it Change, Bengaluru (ISEC, estb.1974)
has hit youngest children in the 0-8 has increased capital expenditure on and currently education advisor to the
age group very hard. infrastructure by 34.5 percent, the Karnataka government.
With the country’s estimated finance minister has reduced expen- That the education, health and
55,000 private preschools and 1.6 diture on human capital development well-being of the world’s largest child
w
million free-of-charge angan adi which is as — if not more — impor- and youth population has been cal-
centres (AWCs), essentially nutri- tant. In Budget 2021-22, the Centre’s lously ignored in Budget 2021-22,

44 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2021