In education,a slim hike offsets high ambitions

Rs 65,869 cr to meet challenges of RTE Act and mid-day meal scheme expansion

Termed a priority sector,education has effectively been given no more than a 7.2 per cent hike in the allocation when compared to last year’s budgetary estimate though it works out to 17 per cent when compared to the revised estimate,which had been slashed from Rs 61,427 crore to Rs 56,223 crore.

With Rs 65,869 crore this year,the human resource development ministry will struggle to take up new schemes,let alone set up new institutes. The ministry’s immediate challenge will be to meet expenses that will soar over the next month in the run-up to the March 31 deadline for states to fulfil norms under the Right to Education Act. The states are expected to demand more funds from the Centre.

HRD minister Pallam Raju too acknowledged the inadequacy of the budgetary hike for the education sector and said that more funds will be needed.

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The slim budgetary hike could also set back the ambitious plans backed by the National Advisory Council for the education sector. The proposals are to extend the ambit of the RTE Act to cover pre-primary sections as well as secondary education besides expanding the coverage of the flagship mid-day meal programme to secondary level and private unaided schools in the tribal areas.

Of the Rs 65,869 crore,school education has been allocated Rs 49,659 crore and higher education Rs 16,210 crore. The school education budget includes Rs 27,258 crore for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,which is also the funding vehicle for RTE,and Rs 13,215 crore for the mid-day meal scheme.

In the higher education sector,the lion’s share of Rs 10,213.71 crore will go to the University Grants Commission,while Rs 400 crore will go to the new scheme Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha Abhiyan. Rs 1,450 crore has been allocated towards student financial aid with Rs 1,100 crore going towards student loan interest subsidy and contribution to credit guarantee fund.

The Indian School of Mines,Dhanbad,will get a grant of Rs 168 crore while the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Indian Institutes for Science Education & Research (IISER) will be supported with a Rs 1,092 crore grant. Special grants of Rs 100 crore each have been announced for certain institutes of national importance including Aligarh Muslim University,Banaras Hindu University,Tata Institute of Sciences (Guwahati campus) and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

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The ministry’s budgetary estimate for 2012-13 had been trimmed down recently from Rs 45,969 to Rs 42,729 crore for school education and from Rs 15,458 to Rs 13,494 crore for higher education. That apart,the 12th Plan document too had indicated the shape of things to come by focusing on consolidation of existing schemes and institutes rather than splurging on setting up of new institutes or launches of new schemes.

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