By Kirti Sharma,
Indian economy has experienced bouts of upswings and downswings in the last few years amidst vicissitudes. Opportunely, the size of our country and the population offers a robust platform for the growth of the education sector. Even then, the sector has witnessed major transformation in the last few years on account of changing landscape due to covid and the proclamation of the New Education Policy (NEP), 2020.
A significant development in the last three years has been the emergence of ‘phygital’ which has transformed the way the education dissemination was perceived. The vision is that India should be promoted as a global study destination providing premium education at affordable costs thereby helping to restore its role as a Vishwa Guru (NEP, 2020).
There are still opportunities which are untapped. There is a need to upscale the education system to attract more foreign students. This would need major investment in the education sector with more focus on the higher education which currently is somewhat a neglected regime. Investment in higher education will also help in improving the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) which is targeted to be 50% by 2035 (financial express). The public expenditure on education which was envisaged by 1968, 1986 and 1992 policy was 6% but we are still not close to achieving this number even after three decades. Public expenditure on education has been 25% lesser than the suggested rate of 6%. Compared to the developed economies, the facilities which are available to students in Indian schools and universities are meagre. This has an impact on the quality of education and the quality of students who graduate from our universities. Most of the central and state universities are working with a high proportion of adhoc staff which again results in sub-optimal results. There is a dire necessity to introduce accountability in the system where each stakeholder performs their role with high level ethics and integrity. Adhoc vacancies should be filled by permanent hires. Compared to developed countries, higher education in India is not as well paid hence not considered to be a lucrative career option. This discernment needs to be changed.
Some imperative demands which the education sector has are as follows-
Tax relief both direct and indirect– including higher tax rebates and decreasing tax on education programs. The existing rate of 18% on the EdTech sector should also be reviewed.
Enhancing quality and accountability in education system – Universal access to quality education at all levels and for all sections of population, full equity and inclusion to ensure students are able to thrive in the education system. The budget should propose measures which aim to accomplish these objectives over a period of time.
Skill development – There is a dire necessity of learning to be transitioned from subject-based to skilled based. As per a government report, skilled workforce is in high demand, particularly involving mathematics, computer science, and data science, in conjunction with multidisciplinary abilities across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The budget should propose establishment of more skill development centres.
Affordable Digitisation- to leverage the benefits of digital education and to meet the objective of the Digital India campaign, there is a need for affordable computing devices, laptops and other software. The budget can propose reliefs on purchase of these devices so that digital inclusion is done at all levels.
Promoting research and innovation- India desperately needs a research ecosystem. The budget can put in place provisions for availability of funds for research students. It needs to catalyze high-quality research which can result in path-breaking innovation.
Strengthening of Industry-academia connect- The NEP has proposed the establishment of ‘National Research Foundation (NRF)’ which will enable a culture of research. If industry works closely with the NRF, meaningful research can be undertaken. The budget can offer sops to industry for such collaboration. This will promote industry to share data and provide technical support to researchers which will be very helpful.
Reducing the cost of education for ‘middle class’- Right to Education Act was enacted in 2009 but its applicability is limited to lower strata of the society. The middle class usually writhes when it comes to selecting quality education for their children. The finmin should introduce provisions which relieves middle class parents of the high cost burden for primary and secondary schooling.
Indian education sector has evolved from the ‘brain-drain’ stage in late 90s to becoming the talent pool for the world in the 21st century. As per the Managing Director of Educational Testing Services, by 2047, 25% of the global workforce will be Indian and it is suggested that our students get international exposure at an early stage. It is expected that the Finmin should increase the allocation and introduce elitist measures in the upcoming budget to help the sector perform up to its full potential as “there is no better investment towards a society ’s future than the high-quality education of young people”.
The author is professor, accounts and finance, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon. Views are personal.