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wedded to Nehruvian socialism, is to source mobilisation drive to lift In-
adopt the school education vouchers dia’s public education system out of
programme advocated by a rapidly the morass in which it has been mired
rising number of educationists and for the past century will be resented
economists. by leaders of industry and business
“The average per-child expendi- who are well aware of the productivity
ture incurred by the Central and state gains that a well-educated workforce
governments in public schools is will contribute to industry, agriculture
Rs.25,000 per year, which is substan- and the services sector.
tially more than spent by 70 percent Moreover even if not overtly, in-
of private schools. Despite this, there dustry leaders are subliminally aware
is a continuous outflow of children of French economist Thomas Piketty’s
from free-of-charge government to warning (Capital in the Twenty-first
fees-levying private schools. In the Century (2013)) that rising income
circumstances, it would be advisable and wealth inequality — for which
for governments to directly trans- universal quality education is the best
fer the Rs.25,000 per-child expense panacea — poses a grave threat to law
that it incurs annually, to parents of and order and social stability, in par-
school-going children by way of school Rajawat: school vouchers option ticular to democratic societies. There-
education vouchers to enable them fore, it is submitted that the schema
to enrol their children in schools of 2020-21-small-change-for-human- proposed by EducationWorld to ur-
their choice. In the long run, the K-12 capital-development/). The reflex gently recast the next Union budget
system will become stronger because reaction of government and latter day to mobilise Rs.8.09 lakh crore is ac-
the incomes of affordable schools will liberal economists is that additional cepted by the BJP/NDA government
increase, learning outcomes will im- taxation and resource mobilisation to attain the goals of NEP 2020.
prove and government schools will be even for best causes, is likely to disin- “India will have the highest popu-
forced to upgrade to attract and retain centivise business and industry lead- lation of young people in the world
students. Funding students instead of ers and prompt capital flight. over the next decade, and our ability
schools is a win-win strategy that will to provide high-quality educational
improve the school education system ET DISTINGUISHED econo- opportunities to them will determine
without substantial additional gov- Y mists Abhijit Banerjee the future of the country,” says NEP in
ernment expenditure,” says K. Yat- and Esther Duflo have its introductory paragraph.
ish Rajawat, a commerce alum of adduced impressive evi- Indeed, the stakes are high. And as
Delhi and Mumbai universities, for- dence to prove this nostrum is highly the authors of NEP 2020 repeatedly
mer journalist (Hindu Businessline, questionable. In their latest must-read stress throughout this policy docu-
Economic Times and former editor book Good Economics for Hard Times ment, a massive, concerted effort to
of DNA) and currently president of (see p.94) these MIT, Boston profes- raise the floor of the education system
the Centre for Civil Society, the well- sors report that RCTs (randomised from preschool to Ph D is an urgent
reputed Delhi-based think tank which controlled trials) conducted by them national priority. But to engineer this
has an excellent track record in K-12 in several countries belie the popular national priority government, the es-
education research. belief that additional taxation for de- tablishment and society need to col-
A second option available to the monstrable public good disincentivis- lectively bite the bullet and take hard
Central government to fund NEP es high income individuals. Similarly, decisions including co-option of pri-
2020 is to accord development of it’s impossible for your correspondent vate education, massive resource mo-
the country’s high-potential human to accept that a one-time massive re- bilisation and de-bureaucratisation of
resource highest priority and under- Indian education.
take a massive resource mobilisation It’s impossible to accept If these issues that have bedev-
initiative in the Union Budget 2021- illed post-independence India’s sub-
22. Your editors have repeatedly pre- that a massive resource optimal education system for the
sented resource mobilisation schema mobilisation drive to lift past seven decades are not seriously
for one-time investment of Rs.8 lakh addressed, like its predecessor policy
crore for the education and primary public education out of the declarations, NEP 2020 will remain
healthcare of the world’s largest child mire will be resented by another high rhetoric charter lost in
and youth population (see www. leaders of India Inc the eddies and currents of implemen-
educationworld.in/union-budget- tation.

56 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2020