Union Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank recently revealed important statistics regarding the total public expenditure being done on education in India. Responding to Rajya Sabha Starred Question Number 330 regarding improvement in quality of education in the country, the Minister revealed that the total public expenditure on education has increased from 3.84% of the total GDP to 4.43% during 2013 to 2018.
As per the statistics revealed by Dr Nishank, India’s public expenditure on education was Rs 430878.82 crores during the period 2013-2014. By 2017-2018, the expenditure had increased to Rs 756945.00 crores, the Minister indicated in his official statements to the House. Besides, Dr Nishank also highlighted various other educational schemes of the government aimed at the holistic improvement of the quality of education in the country.
Recently, the Minister of Education tweeted that as per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-2020 report, there has been an 80% increase in the number of Institutes of National Importance in India. The Minister indicated that as per the report, the number of newly established Institutes of National Importance in the country from 2015 to 2020 is 60. In 2015, the number of such institutes in India was only 75. Whereas, by the year 2020, the number of such institutes was 135. The AISHE 2019-2020 report has also revealed that there has been a 60% increment in the number of PhDs in India.
In his response to the aforementioned Rajya Sabha question raised by Hon’ble Member of Parliament Shri Ch Sukhram Singh Yadav, the Education Minister indicated that the context of improvement of the quality of education is a continuous and ongoing process. He also mentioned that India’s public expenditure is way higher than SAARC countries like Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal.
Several initiatives have been taken by the government for the continuous improvement of the quality of education in the country. He mentioned that the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, i.e., the Samagra Shiksha has been implemented throughout the nation since 2018-2019. This scheme has absorbed the existing educational reformation schemes of the central government such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). Under this scheme, the school has been envisaged to include all levels of school education starting from Pre-School to Senior Secondary Education.
At the higher education level, various central government schemes have also been implemented. These include Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC). The Minister also highlighted some other important schemes such as Global Initiatives for Academic Network (GIAN), Impacting Research, Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) etc. In addition, various initiatives are also being undertaken by the UGC and the AICTE for the improvement of quality in higher and technical education in India.
