Commenting on the Interim Budget presented by the Government of India (GoI) in Parliament on Friday, Ambarish Rai, National Convenor, Right to Education (RTE) Forum, has said that the budget has again failed to provide “the long-pending demand of an investment of 6% of GDP on education.”
According to him, “A mere allocation of Rs 38572 crore (only negligible increase of Rs 6238 crore from previous year) under National Education Mission of which only Rs 36,472.40 crore for School Education under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan is grossly inadequate to universalise education up to secondary level.”
He added, “The total budget allocated for education sector, Rs 93,847.64 crore for 2019-20, with an increase of Rs 8, 837 crore from last year’s allocation of Rs 85, 010 crore, is totally insufficient for any substantial improvement in elementary and higher education.”
Asserting that the GoI has failed to address the key issues of the education sector, like the huge number of out of school children (84 million: Census 2011), 9.3 lakhs vacancy of teachers in the country, closure of government schools (nearly 2 lakh) across the country, and only 12% RTE compliant schools, Rai said, “With such a meagre budget, the government will not be able to ensure fulfillment of the provisions of the RTE Act.”
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