PC leaves education sector wanting

The Union Budget proposed to allocate Rs 65,867 crore for the education sector, 17 per cent more than the previous year’s revised estimate. However, funds allocated for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the Right to Education (RTE) Act appeared insufficient.

Presenting the 82nd Union Budget here in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister P Chidambaram maintained that education featured high in the government’s priority list.
Underling that the SSA and RTE were “firmly in place,” Chidambaram proposed to allocate Rs 27,258 crore for the implementation of the UPA government’s two flagship programmes.  

The finance minister also proposed to allot Rs 3,983 crore for the Rashtriya Madhyamaik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). The investment in the programme could not be postponed “any longer,” he said. The mid-day meal scheme got Rs 13,215 crore. “The proposed increase in the allocation for RMSA was 25.6 per cent over the revised estimate of the current year,” the finance minister maintained.

The education budget, however, did not impress HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju, who wanted more funds, especially to support the implementation of the SSA and RTE programmes and schemes meant for improving the quality of school education.

Expenses incurred by the ministry may go up since a number of schools are yet to meet infrastructure and staff requirements mandated by the RTE Act despite the March 31 deadline. The schools which fail to abide by the recommendations will have to face litigations and may be de-recognised.

“I think there has been a little bit of increase. But the important factor is that the deadline for implementing the RTE Act is coming up and subsequent to that, there will be a lot of demand from the states for central share of the money and I think that is what we should be prepared for,” Raju said after the Budget presentation.

He added that capacity-building in secondary and higher secondary education was also imperative. “We will definitely be asking for more money,” he said.

The HRD Minister had urged Chidambaram to increase allocation for SSA to Rs 39,115 crore in the revised estimate for 2012-13. He had also requested the finance minister not to cut down the allocation for the teacher training programme. The quality of teachers was critical to improve the quality of education, he said.

Even the higher education sector did not get funds as demanded by the HRD Ministry. The finance ministry allocated Rs 16, 210 crore for the sector, just 20 per cent more than what was allocated in the previous fiscal.