Shiksha Opinion on Budget 2014: The good, the bad, the missing
The Union Budget 2014 has finally been presented. And this time, it’s been particularly friendly towards the education sector. With several new ideas and proposals, aimed at uplifting the education sector, it’s time to smile. Or is it?
Budget 2014: Know what it means for the education sector!
The Good
Union minister, Arun Jaitley’s budgetary allocation towards education, in both direct and indirect ways, is quite encouraging.
Steps taken towards gender-sensitisation are commendable. School curriculum will now have a separate chapter on gender mainstreaming, apart from the Rs 100 crore allocated for Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana which will focus on generating awareness and improving delivery of welfare services meant for women.
The budget has also given multi-pronged boost towards grassroots level education, vocational skills (such as handlooms, design, health centres) and entrepreneurship.
Towards entrepreneurship, Jaitley has introduced several measures at various levels – such as Rs 10,000 crore set aside as venture capital for budding entrepreneurs in MSME sector; ‘Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme’. These measures have the intrinsic Modi or Gujarat government characteristics all over – pushing innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship at all levels in the society.
Other positive steps include establishing national level institutes for Universal Inclusive Design and Mental Health Rehabilitation, a Centre for Disability Sports, a Sports University in Manipur and Sports Academies for major games in different parts of the country (to mainstream sports).
Introducing new medical colleges, including four new AIIMS, seems like a step towards improved healthcare infrastructure. Setting aside Rs 500 crore individually for broadband and power supply, and the lower excise duty on computers, is also bound to uplift the education sector indirectly. Another little encouraging step is setting aside Rs 100 crore for the much-needed modernisation of madarsas.
In short, the budget seems to have long-term visionary qualities that focus on nurturing the nation through educational upliftment at the grassroots levels. Particularly, the focus given to skill development and vocational education seems to be the right step towards enabling students from all strata to play to their strengths.
Check out Twitter war over the new IITs and IIMs.
The Bad
So what didn’t we like? Allocation of mere Rs 500 crore for a humanities institute (Jai Prakash Narayan National Centre for Excellence in Humanities), five IITs and five IIMs is just not enough. How does the ratio between the three work out? Also, the big gaping hole is, there is no allocation of budget for existing IITs and IIMs.
Also, what’s the logic behind introducing IITs and IIMs in these states? While we appreciate the government’s zeal to introduce more institutes, what about faculty development programmes? Also, the salary of teachers and faculty remains the same – no real far-thinking moves there.
The Missing
Our biggest disappointment though was probably the government’s insistence on adhering to populist ideas of ushering new IITs and IIMs. That the latest crop of IITs and IIMs lack infrastructure and quality faculty is no news. Currently, there are 16 IITs, with the last IIT launched in 2012 in Varanasi. As for IIMs, three new IIMs were introduced in 2011 in Kashipur, Udaipur and Tiruchirappalli. Some of these institutes are yet to shift to their main campus. Most of them are yet to find quality faculty. Placement still suffers in these institutes.
Also, where is the accountability? The government is simply proposing new schemes. Who’s to check the outcome? Outcome-budget is the need of the hour, not mere new IITs and IIMs.
Another big letdown was that not a single thought has been spared for the existing university system of the country. Universities exist through the entire length and breadth of the country. It is the university-system which can help India bridge the gap between industry demands and required-skills. Modernising education by allocating funds could have gone a long way in establishing India’s talent pool. And this missing piece could have earned the new government many brownie points.
Also, instead of coming up with more IITs, the government could have focussed on introducing more NITs and IIITs to cater to the ever growing breed of engineering aspirants. In management, there are no such quality options right now. Every college is either a top-level B-school or a private management college. There was a great opportunity to bridge that gap.
Another missing element was FDI and privatisation of higher education sector. Since the government is more interested in promoting populist ideas, would it have made sense to go this way? Probably.
In the end though, there were a few good, a few bad and a big missing chunk. We appreciate the move towards gender sensitisation, grassroot development and focus on research. But it took the safe path with the country’s premiere institutes and left many questions unanswered.
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