BANGALORE: Even as the budgetary allocation for education has been increased by 24 per cent over last year, this Union budget hasn’t totally lived up to the expectations of academicians. While they welcomed several moves by the government to bring about reforms and standardise education in the country, lack of intent in some schemes and probable non-implementation have attracted their ire.
FACT OF THE MATTER
There are some new and ambitious plans announced for the education sector, but it lacks vision to achieve a higher target.
So, it evokes neither jeering nor cheering of any sorts, is the opinion of RLM Patil, director, Centre for Educational and Social Studies.
Academician and founder of Sa Mudra Foundation K E Radhakrishna said the budget was good as a whole. “One needs to understand that education and health are basic necessities of the citizens in the country. The budget doesn’t seem to take this point into consideration,” he said.
But Anand Sudarshan, managing director & chief executive officer of Manipal Education, had a different opinion. “As far as education is concerned, it is good to see the Finance Minister hiking up the allocation to the education sector by 24 per cent,” he said.
SCHEME-ING?
Commenting on the grants of `50 crore each to the upcoming centres of Aligarh Muslim University at Murshidabad in West Bengal and Malappuram in Kerala, Patil said it was disturbing that these had to be established for a particular community.
“Of course, there should be provision of educational loans for Muslims and other minority communities, but establishing such universities are discriminatory.
Even Muslims should voice their opinions against it,” he said.
Radhakrishna said the Muslim university was a good idea as in a democracy greater responsibility should be given to minorities. “It instills confidence in them. In fact, there should be a 30 per cent reservation for other communities, too,” he said.
THUMBS-UP!
“It is heartening to note the increase to the National Skills Development Fund - this renewed budgetary focus on skills development after a year’s gap is good,” said Sudarshan.
Prof K M Kaveriappa, Executive Director and Member Secretary of the Karnataka State Council for Higher Education (KSCHE), added, “The quantity of increase (40 per cent over last year) for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will have a major impact on the country’s development.
The increased allocation for higher education is also crucial, as we are trying hard to increase the enrolment ratio from the existing 10 per cent to 15." More funds will also assure better accessibility for backward classes and other youth from rural areas, Prof Kaveriappa observed.
According to Radhakrishna, the budget should have included teacher-orientation pro - grammes, as most of the schools lack good teachers. “Also, there should have been a housing scheme in rural areas for teachers.
Many teachers reach schools late because of the long distance between the schools and their homes. There should have also been a more inclusive policy on bringing illiterate children to schools,” he said.
REAL CHALLENGE FOR HRD MINISTRY
Given the poor pace of educational reforms being implemented, the real challenge was not with the Finance Ministry, but the Human Resource Development Ministry, which should pilot through various bills that are stuck at different stages.
“I’d have liked to see additional policy support for individual and corporate contributions to endowments for scholarships and for enhancing faculty numbers,” Sudarshan said.
Offering a optical fibre backbone network to link 1,500 institutes of higher learning and reasearch was welcome, “But I doubt how efficiently it would be implemented,” said K M Kaveriappa.
