There is considerable euphoria in the Nation in the aftermath of US President Obama’s address to our Desi Netas. His statement that India has emerged as a global power warms up the cockles of our heart. While it may be true that we are harbouring largest number of poor, our per capita income is very low and we also have large percentage of unemployed but still there’s no doubt India has crafted an exemplary story of growth in post liberalization era. Even when western countries and Japan are suffering from recession, India has continued to scare the world with its stability. Moreover, we have a demographic dividend, but more about that a little later. If India has to really grow we must have effective intertwining of policy, budgetary allocations and expenditure management towards education and achieve inclusive growth.
The Eleventh Plan spelt out that a key element of the strategy for inclusive growth must be “to provide the mass of our people access to basic facilities such as health, education, clean drinking water etc that they need ”Governments at different levels have to ensure the provision of these services and this must be an essential part of our strategy for inclusive growth. We know that expenditure under Social Services, Education, Public Health and Family Welfare, Housing, Water Supply and Sanitation, Welfare of SC, ST and BC, Labour Welfare are crucial indicators of human development.
“There is in our time no well educated literate population that is poor; there is no illiterate population that is other than poor.” This simple but thoughtful message reiterates that education alone can be the salvation for poverty, and upliftment of the socially discriminated. In recent years sustained and high levels of economic growth have provided a unique opportunity and momentum for faster social sector development. Investing in education plays a key role in meeting the development objectives of inclusive growth, social cohesion, and accountability. The budgetary allocations for education are well below desired target of 5%. What recent growth we see in higher and technical education now is due to private sector, which means Self Financing Institutions. These exclude a large percentage of our youth out of the system.
Professor Amartya Sen recently emphasized education as an important parameter for any inclusive growth in an economy. The policies have to focus on inclusive rather than divisive growth strategies. Corporate India moving towards this sector is laudable, but it is clear that deficiency in education cannot be met by mere expansion of private institutions so “Public education is as indispensable as public health care, no matter what supplementary role private schools and private medical care can play.” Use of new technologies and scientific knowledge in the delivery of education services and promotion of scientific and technological interventions in this social sector is likely to have a significant impact not only on the quality of education services but also on its accessibility to the rural poor, in particular the disadvantaged sections.
From the Census 2001 the population figures stand at 1029 million with a projected increase to 1400 million by 2026. The well known “demographic dividend” will manifest in the proportion of population in the working age group of 15-64 years increasing steadily from 62.9% in 2006 to 68.4% in 2026. The actual tapping of this demographic dividend will however depend a lot on ensuring proper education. India is one of the least literate societies in the world. Literacy rates in the States of Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh were below 37 % according to 2001 census. For SC/ST students the figures are even below 24%. So far as education is concerned in 2009, India will have 205 million 15-24 year olds out of which47 million are illiterate. From 158 million literate 37 mil-lion have only primary education; 109 million secondary and only 13 million are graduates. It is frequently found that hardly 15% of graduates are employable. They lack adequate knowledge and skills including soft skills.
Our HRD Minister projects that by 2020 we shall have at least 30% gross enrolment ratio instead of 12.4% at present in the colleges. That means the number in higher education will be about 45 million. The nation cannot produce the wealth which can be converted into products and services by the Industry or Business unless these young are educated and endowed with knowledge and skills necessary in this science and technology base world.
The private sector cannot provide for all of them nor can a large majority of these young men and women afford high fees charged by the private Institutions. Some relief is possible if at least 10% meritorious students who cannot afford the higher fees are accommodated in self financing institutions by charging additional higher fees from the rest of the students. “Global Financial Integrity” a programme of the Washington based Centre for International Policy has estimated that in just five years 2004-08 India lost roughly Rs. 4.3 lakh crore through illicit financial flows mostly from High net worth individuals and private companies. We can add to that illicit wealth of our corrupt politicians stashed abroad. This will be a very large sum. If the country gets a Government which has a political will and has right governance policy some of this wealth can be diverted to subsidize education for the poorer sections of the society.
We do know all these facts, we also know what needs to be done, and above all we also realize the sense of urgency for inclusive education but the point is who should take the initiative. Its time to rise, time to lead, time to make ourselves heard if we want to see India’s Birth again.