Thrust area? Gujarat spending on education 'fails to improve' vis-à-vis other states

By Prof Atman Shah*, Abhishek Mishra**
Gujarat is one of the economically developed states of India, but when it comes to human development, particularly education and health, its performance is quite poor. In 1999-2000, Gujarat’s rank in the per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) was 5th, but 9th in Human Development Index (HDI) among major states of India. The ranking in HDI deteriorated between 1999-2000 and 2007-08, reduced to 10th in 2007-08. There is little evidence to show it has improved thereafter.
One of the reasons behind this is lower spending on education and health. It is now a well-established fact that higher spending on social services like education and health help poorer sections of society to avail them. Education spending of the Gujarat government is the main focus of this article.
The Kothari Commission, in 1966, recommended spending 6% of the national income on education. The Subramanian Committee also recommended the same proportion. However, mere allocation does not help to improve the quality of services. Quantity and quality both matter in order to reach out to the needy.
For example, this year the Gujarat government allocated Rs 200 crore to distribute tablets. How can tablets improve the quality of education, God alone knows. According to Census 2011, the literacy rate in Gujarat was 78.03 % and its rank among states was 12th. Other high-income states Goa, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra had a higher literacy rate than Gujarat. These states are also spending more on education than Gujarat.
According to a report by the PRS Legislative Research, the average allocation of the budget of 27 states for education during 2015-20 was 16.0%, while Gujarat is much below the national average with 15% allocation. Other low-income states like Assam, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and West Bengal also spend more than Gujarat on education.
The performance of Gujarat in other education-reason related indicators is also dismal. According to the Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) 2018, only 43% of students of government schools in standard V could read standard II level text. This clearly shows the quality of the education of government schools in Gujarat. Gujarat’s education department survey admits that 12,000 government schools have only one or two teachers.
Gujarat’s finance minister announced the thrust areas of this year's budget, and education is one of them. But the numbers of the state’s education spending do not match with the narrative.
The state government has proposed a new Schools of Excellence Scheme. Under the scheme, the state government is aiming to develop 500 state-run schools as Schools of Excellence by March next year, and Rs 250 crore is provided for it, which means, Rs 2.5 crore for each school for all the modern infrastructural facilities, smart classrooms, computer lab, stem lab and sports facilities. The step appears quite good. But it seems difficult to provide these services with the allocated financial resources.

The share of education expenditure in GSDP is quite disappointing in Gujarat. It has been between 1% and 2% during 2016-17 and 2019-20, one of the lowest

Overall, the Gujarat government has allocated Rs 31,955 crore to the education sector in this budget, which is 14.7% of the size of the budget, slightly higher than 13.07% of the previous fiscal year allocation. The proportion was 14.1% in 2017-18 and 13.9% in 2018-19.
Indeed, this time the government has increased the budget allocation on education, yet it is not sufficient to get the favourable results. The chart below shows the proportion of the Gujarat government’s education expenditure in total budget allocation and the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at constant prices.

Prepared by the authors, based on PRS and Socio-Economic Review 2018 data

The share of education expenditure in the size of the budget is in the range of 13% to 15% between 2016-17 and 2020-21. This means the education expenditure share in budget allocation remains almost stagnant over the last five years. However, education expenditure has been increasing continuously, because the size of the budget has been increasing over a period of time.
The share of education expenditure in GSDP is quite disappointing in Gujarat. It has been between 1% and 2% during 2016-17 and 2019-20. The fund allocation and the percentage share of education in GSDP is one of the lowest in the country. For the fiscal 2019-20, the percentage share of education in GSDP was only 1.55%, which is a matter of concern.
Even states like Rajasthan and Bihar have been allocating more than 15% of the budget on education for the last five years. Maharashtra also spends around 17% of its total budget on education.
Focus of quality without monetary support wouldn't help. Similarly, rather than just allocating extra budget for education, necessary steps should be taken to improve the quality of spending. Infrastructure is necessary, but in the longer run education and health are the two pillars which strength for a state.
---
*Lecturer, **student, department of economics, St Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Ahmedabad

Comments

Rita shah said…

A well wtityen piece on education scene in Gujarat state. But certainly this is not a over night development, the scenirio has been dismal because of the age old education policy of the state. and the mindset of the where commerce and religion dominate and not education and health. It is sad that we lag behind in both fields and cut a sorry figure when compared to other states. I wish we open our eyes and priotrise both.

March 13, 2020

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857 By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi* This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman* Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Counterview

Search This Blog