Page 55 - EducationWorld Aug 2020 Flipbuilder

India (estb.2011) which has a mem- pendent Centre for Monitoring Indian
bership of 38,000 preschools coun- Economy pegs it at 3 percent. In the
trywide. circumstances, the new policy’s appeal
The heavy emphasis on early child- for a “substantial increase in the edu-
hood care and education and universal cation sector… to reach 6 percent of
foundational literacy and numeracy, is GDP at the earliest” is likely to fall on
the brightest feature of NEP 2020 and deaf ears as similar pleas have fallen
if implemented with grit and determi- during the past six decades.
nation — especially in the country’s 1.4 Certainly the auguries of a mean-
million anganwadis, 1.2 million gov- ingful increase in government spend-
ernment schools and 400,000 budget ing for public education are not
private schools — it has the potential good. With the forced lockdown of
to cancel all mistakes of the past sev- the economy for over four months,
eral decades and fortify the crumbling the GDP budgeted to increase by 10
foundations of contemporary India’s percent in fiscal 2020-21, is likely to
education system. “The single most contract by 5-9 percent this year. This
important proposal in the new policy is certain to severely reduce the direct
is the one that lays down a clear im- and indirect tax receipts of the Central
plementation direction for (state and Chavan: most important proposal and state governments. As a result,
local) governments to attain universal the fiscal deficit of the Union budget
literacy and numeracy in all primary tional bills at a time when the econ- which after much straining and soph-
schools by 2025… Pratham’s Annual omy is in the doldrums, following istry was pegged at Rs.7.96 lakh crore,
Status of Education Report (ASER) lockdown of business and industry equivalent to 3.5 percent of GDP, is set
has been focusing on foundational for over four months in the wake of to double this fiscal, with the BJP gov-
skills. We have also demonstrated the Covid-19 pandemic. ernment at the Centre showing no sign
on a large scale, year after year, that Members of the KR Committee of slashing establishment expenditure
the problem can be solved relatively and formulators of NEP 2020 seem which consumes 20 percent of its total
easily. It is natural for us to hope this scarcely bothered about how these annual revenue. In the circumstances,
one initiative is implemented in all reforms will be funded, even as it it will be a wonder if the HRD/educa-
seriousness,” says Madhav Chavan, candidly admits that allocation of 6 tion ministry’s budgetary allocation of
founder-director of Pratham in an es- percent (Centre plus states) of GDP Rs.99,300 crore, equivalent to a mere
say written for the Economic Times for public education recommended by 0.43 percent of GDP, is not slashed,
(August 2). the Kothari Commission way back in let alone increased. Ditto state govern-
P ERHAPS BECAUSE THE affirmed by the policy review of 1992 prudent.
1968, reiterated by NPE 1986, and re-
ments which tend to be less fiscally
new education policy has
has remained wishful thinking.
Therefore, larger allocation for
been articulated after a
NEP 2020 claims that current an-
prolonged hiatus of 34 nual expenditure for public educa- education is ruled out for fiscal 2020-
21. And next year (2021-22), the focus
years during which the world has tion is 4.43 percent (2017-18) and 10 of the Central and state governments
changed beyond recognition with the percent of total government expen- will be industry and business recovery
dawn of the Internet, robotics, arti- diture and acknowledges “that these with priority accorded to investment
ficial intelligence era, NEP 2020 is numbers are far smaller than most in infrastructure to get the wheels of
somewhat too ambitious. It decrees developed and developing countries” the economy rolling again. Therefore,
the establishment of several dozens of (para 26.1). Most independent moni- social sector spending is unlikely to be
supervisory committees, overhaul of tors of the economy believe that 4.43 increased in 2021-22 either.
infrastructure, appointment of a large percent is an over-estimate. The inde- Even though the recommendation
number of well-paid teachers who to raise government expenditure for
need to be given thorough training, public education to 6 percent to fi-
establishment of an Indian Education NEP 2020 is likely to land nance the momentous reforms of NEP
Service, provision of facilities for skill the Centre and states with 2020 is likely to suffer the fate of NPE
training in all government schools and huge additional bills at a 1968 and 1986/92, the policy docu-
HEIs, as also revival of the adult edu- ment makes it clear that other options
cation programme within prescribed time when the economy is are ruled out for ideological reasons.
time frames. All this is likely to land in the doldrums An option available to the BJP/NDA
the Centre and states with huge addi- government which claims that it is not

AUGUST 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 55