The Finance Minister knows how to package her budget speech to garner headlines in the media. The media had already hailed the budget for education in the Interim Budget 2024–25 as “the highest ever” and “historic”. Since the budget allocation for education in the July Union Budget was the same as the interim budget, it wouldn’t have made the headlines. So Nirmala Sitharaman rephrased her budget speech and stated, “This year, I have made a provision of Rs 1.48 lakh crore for education, employment and skilling.”
The Union Minister for Education followed it up with a press release, hailing Budget 2024–25 for “prioritizing education, skilling, employment generation, research, and innovation like never before”.[1]
The Godi media immediately picked up the cue. The business daily The Economic Times headlined the news: “Union Budget 2024 Proposes Rs 1.48 Lakh Crore for Education, Employment, Skilling”;[2] while NDTV proclaimed, “Education Gets Rs 1.48 Lakh Crore In Budget 2024”.[3] The Times of India carried the headline, “Education Budget 2024 Highlights: From Rs 1.48 Lakh Crore Allocation to New Internship Opportunities”.[4] The Business Standard too joined the chorus, “Budget Allocates Rs 1.48 Lakh Cr For Education, Employment, Skill, Says FM”.[5]
No wonder the media is called Godi media. It has degenerated into a mouthpiece of the Modi Government. No media report highlighted that while school education spending is higher than last year’s RE, a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals that school education spending in real terms has declined in the eleven Modi budgets presented since 2014! And the higher education budget is lower than last year’s RE. This is why the total budget outlay for education in 2024–25 is 7% less than last year’s revised estimate, which means that the cut is more than 10% in real terms (see Chart 2 below).
But before discussing this and other issues related to the education budget 2024, it would be appropriate to first take a brief look at the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP), the Modi Government’s education policy document announced in 2020 that is supposed to “pave way for transformational reforms in school and higher education systems in the country” (to quote a press release by the Ministry of Education).[6] The Economic Survey 2023–24 makes several references to the NEP. Emphasising its importance, it says: “Implementing the NEP is key to achieving educational outcomes and preparing the youth for participating in the knowledge economy.”[7]
National Education Policy 2020
The National Education Policy (NEP-2020) outlines the Modi Government’s perspective towards education. As per the official NEP policy document, NEP “aims to address the many growing developmental imperatives of our country. This Policy proposes the revision and revamping of all aspects of the education structure, including its regulation and governance, to create a new system that is aligned with the aspirational goals of 21st century education.”[8]
If it has such lofty goals, one wonders why it was unveiled so surreptitiously. On 29 July 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic that was wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of people, suddenly the nation was told that the central cabinet, presided over by the Prime Minister, had given approval to the National Education Policy 2020. Notably, education is in the Concurrent List (List III) under Article 246 (Seventh Schedule) of the Constitution. This means that it is a subject that concerns both the Centre and the State/UT governments equally. Despite this, the Centre rushed to implement NEP-2020 without (a) seeking the opinion of the Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE) — the highest body for policy scrutiny and approval wherein all the State/UT education ministers are duly represented; (b) debate and endorsement in the State/UT Vidhan Sabhas; and (c) scrutiny by the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee followed by approval of the Parliament.
Be that as it may, let us keep such ‘mundane’ issues aside, and examine the concrete proposals made in the NEP regarding improvement of the education system.
NEP on Financing Education
NEP says:
“The Policy commits to significantly raising educational investment, as there is no better investment towards a society’s future than the high-quality education of our young people. Unfortunately, public expenditure on education in India has not come close to the recommended level of 6% of GDP, as envisaged by the 1968 Policy, reiterated in the Policy of 1986, and which was further reaffirmed in the 1992 review of the Policy. The current public (Government – Centre and States) expenditure on education in India … is far smaller than most developed and developing countries.”[9]
NEP is absolutely right in saying that public expenditure on education in India has not come close to the level of 6% of GDP that was recommended by the Kothari Commission way back in the 1960s and reiterated in every subsequent important education policy document. Total public expenditure on education (Centre and States combined) was just around 2% of GDP in the 1970s, increased very slowly to reach 3.43% of GDP in 1989–90, only to fall back in the following years.[10] It is also correct in saying that India’s public spending on education is much less than most developed and developing countries. Average public spending on education in the developed countries is around 5.1% of GDP. Among the developing countries, this figure is: Argentina – 4.6% (2021), Brazil – 5.8% (2020) and South Africa – 6.6% (2023).[11]
NEP then goes on to affirm:
“In order to attain the goal of education with excellence and the corresponding multitude of benefits to this Nation and its economy, this Policy unequivocally endorses and envisions a substantial increase in public investment in education by both the Central government and all State Governments. The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest. This is considered extremely critical for achieving the high-quality and equitable public education system that is truly needed for India’s future economic, social, cultural, intellectual, and technological progress and growth.”[emphasis ours][12]
The NEP was only reiterating what the BJP had promised in its 2014 election manifesto released at the time of the Lok Sabha elections, that if voted to power it would increase total general government spending on education to 6% of GDP
Modi Government’s Budget Allocations for Education
However, like all other promises of PM Modi and his government, this too has turned out to be a jumla. Public investment on education has actually fallen during the Modi years: the Economic Survey admits that total education spending of the general government (Centre + States) declined from 3.1% of GDP in 2013–14 (the last year of the previous UPA government) to 2.8% during Modi’s first term, inched up to 2.9% in 2019–20, and then again declined to 2.7%, which is the lowest level of the Modi years. The Economic Survey data on education spending includes spending on sports, art and culture; so actual spending on education would be even less. This figure is among the lowest in the world. As a percentage of total expenditure of Centre and States combined, the fall is even more — from 11.6% in 2013–14 to 9.2% in 2023–24 BE (Chart 1).
Chart 1: Total Education Spending by General Government
(Centre + States), 2013–14 to 2023–24 BE [13]
Let us now discuss the allocation for education in the Modi Government’s eleven budgets so far. In its very first budget after assuming power (2014–15), the Modi Government drastically reduced its spending on education by 17% — from Rs 82,771 crore in the budget estimate to Rs 68,874 in the budget actuals. Over the next ten budgets, the Modi Government’s spending on education has increased to Rs 1,20,628 crore in 2024–25 BE (Chart 2).
Chart 2: Modi Government’s Budget Allocations for Education, 2014 to 2024 (Rs crore)
While this appears to be a doubling of education spending in nominal terms, it has occurred over a period of 11 years. It actually amounts to an average annual increase of just 5.76% (CAGR), implying the budgetary spending is stagnant in real terms.
A better idea of the actual increase in budget education spending is obtained if we compare it to the total government spending (that is, budget outlay) — this reveals that the education spending has declined by a huge 40%, from 4.14% of the budget outlay in 2014–15 A to 2.5% in this year’s BE. As a percentage of GDP, it has fallen from 0.55% to 0.37% (Chart 2)!
Part I: School Education
NEP-2020 on School Education
When it comes to bombast, the Modi Government is second to none. The NEP-2020 document contains a lot of flowery rhetoric about the necessity of improving quality and infrastructure of government schools to bring back to school all school-going children and achieve 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) up to secondary level. The document says:
“A good education institution is one in which every student feels welcomed and cared for, … where a wide range of learning experiences are offered, and where good physical infrastructure and appropriate resources conducive to learning are available to all students. Attaining these qualities must be the goal of every educational institution….
“One of the primary goals of the schooling system must be to ensure that children are enrolled in and are attending school… As per the 75th round household survey by NSSO in 2017–18, the number of out of school children in the age group of 6 to 17 years is 3.22 crore. It will be a top priority to bring these children back into the educational fold as early as possible, and to prevent further students from dropping out, with a goal to achieve 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio in preschool to secondary level by 2030.
“There are two overall initiatives that will be undertaken … The first is to provide effective and sufficient infrastructure … Besides providing regular trained teachers at each stage, special care shall be taken to ensure that no school remains deficient on infrastructure support. The credibility of Government schools shall be re-established and this will be attained by upgrading and enlarging the schools that already exist, building additional quality schools in areas where they do not exist, and providing safe and practical conveyances and/or hostels …
“The second is to achieve universal participation in school by carefully tracking students, as well as their learning levels, in order to ensure that they (a) are enrolled in and attending school, and (b) have suitable opportunities to catch up and re-enter school in case they have fallen behind or dropped out.
“Once infrastructure and participation are in place, ensuring quality will be the key in retention of students …”[14]
NEP-2020 thus lays considerable emphasis on improving school infrastructure, increasing the number of schools and providing adequate regular teachers. That is as it should be.
NEP-2020 vs Modi Govt’s Education Budgets
i) Budget Cut in School Education
Implementing the recommendations of NEP-2020 requires a huge increase in budgetary spending on school education. The primary responsibility for this lies with the Centre, as the Centre collects the bulk of the revenues in the country.[15]
Instead, in the eleven budgets presented by the Modi Government since it came to power in 2014, spending on school education has increased only marginally in nominal terms (by 4.79%, CAGR)(See Table 1). A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the school education budget outlay for this year is lower than the spending in 2014–15 (Actuals) in real terms by 11% (CAGR).[16]
The priority given by the Modi Government to school education is better reflected in another statistic — the budget of the Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) as a percentage of total budget outlay. It has fallen from 2.75% in 2014–15 A to 1.53% this year — a 45% cut (Chart 3).
Table 1: Modi Government’s Budget Outlay for School Education (Rs crore)
| 2014–15 A (1) | 2023–24 RE (2) | 2024–25 BE (3) | Increase, 3 over 1, % (CAGR) | Increase, 3 over 2, % | |
| Department of School Edn. and Literacy (DSEL) | 45,722 | 72,474 | 73,008 | 4.79% | 0.74% |
Chart 3: Modi Govt.’s Spending on School Education, 2014–15 to 2024–25 (Rs crore)
The Modi Government wants to make India ‘Vishwaguru’ without spending on educating its children!
ii) Elite Schools
In 2022, the Centre launched an ‘Exemplar’ scheme to upgrade 14,500 existing schools to ‘high quality schools’, from among the schools managed by Central government / State / UT Government / local bodies, over the next five years. The Education Minister forgot that all such initiatives have to be credited to our narcissistic Prime Minister; in 2023, the mistake was rectified and the scheme was rechristened as Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI schools). The website of the Ministry of Education says that the aim of developing these “exemplar schools” is to “showcase the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020”.[17] At this speed of upgradation, it will take more than 200 years to upgrade all the 10 lakh government schools in the country, provided we do not open any more schools during this period. Clearly, all the florid talk in the NEP about providing good quality education to all children is humbug.
The budget allocation for PM SHRI schools this year is Rs 6,050 crore, which is more than double last year’s RE of Rs 2,800 crore (Table 2). The PM SHRI dashboard says that presently a total of 10,077 schools have been selected for upgradation under this scheme.
Two other categories of schools on which the government spends a significant part of its school budget are the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas (total budget Rs 15,103 crore in 2024–25 BE) (Table 2).
Table 2: School Education Budget: Budget for Elite Schools (Rs crore) [18]
| 2023–24 RE | 2024–25 BE | |
| Kendriya Vidyalaya (1) | 8,500 | 9,303 |
| Navodaya Vidyalaya (2) | 5,470 | 5,800 |
| Exemplar / PM Shri (3) | 2,800 | 6,050 |
| Elite Schools, Total: 1+2+3 = 4 | 16,770 | 21,153 |
| (4) as % of School education budget | 23.1% | 29% |
There are presently 1,252 Kendriya Vidyalayas and 643 Navodaya Vidyalayas in the country. These two together with the 10,077 schools presently selected for upgradation to PM SHRI schools total 11,972 schools; this figure is 1.2% of the total government schools in the country (10.22 lakh). A total of 16.6 lakh students are studying in Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas. The government estimates that 18 lakh students will benefit from the first phase of the PM SHRI scheme (14,500 schools); so we can assume that 12.5 lakh students are studying in the 10,077 PM SHRI schools presently functioning. Adding up these numbers, this means that a total of 29.1 lakh students are studying in these 3 types of elite schools. This number is 2.1% of the total 14.05 crore students studying in government schools.
Chart 4: Elite Schools vs Ordinary Government Schools [19]
For these 3 categories of elite schools, which account for a mere 1.2% of all government schools and 2.1% of the total 14 crore students presently studying in all government schools, the Centre is spending 29% of the school education budget (Rs 21,153 crore). And for 98% of our children, studying in ordinary government schools, the Centre is spending 71% of the school education budget (Rs 51,855 crore) (Chart 4).
In Table 3, we calculate the government spending for the 98% students studying in ordinary government schools. In the eleven Modi budgets presented till date, the school education budget for these schools has increased by only 2.54% (CAGR) — which means it is a drastic reduction in real terms (by around 28%).[20]
Table 3: Modi Govt. Spending on Ordinary Govt Schools vs Elite Schools (Rs crore) [21]
| 2014–15 A (1) | 2024–25 BE (2) | Increase, 2 over 1, % (CAGR) | |
| Department of School Edn. and Literacy (DSEL) [1] | 45,722 | 73,008 | 4.79% |
| Budget for Elite Schools* [2] | 5,356 | 21,153 | 14.72% |
| Budget for Ordinary Schools = 1 – 2 | 40,366 | 51,855 | 2.54% |
*Elite Schools = Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and PM SHRI Schools
There are several other problems with Modi Government’s push for PM SHRI schools. The Centre has announced that it will open PM SHRI schools only in those States that accept NEP in totality; this is thus a roundabout way of imposing NEP on States. Another condition is that the Centre will fund these schools only for 5 years, after which the States will have to fully fund these schools. According to news reports, three opposition-ruled States — Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal — have refused to participate in the PM SHRI scheme, arguing that education is a subject in the concurrent list, and the Centre can’t impose this scheme on them. The Modi Government has retaliated by stopping release of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds to these state governments.[22]
This is a complete violation of federalism. First, the Centre announces the NEP without even consulting the States. Next, it comes up with an extremely elitist scheme, that will benefit only a tiny number of schools, and imposes it on the States. As it is, the bulk of the total education spending in the country is done by the States, the Centre only spends around 15% of it.[23] Despite education being in the concurrent list, the Centre is forcing the States to spend a significant part of their education budgets on these tiny number of PM SHRI schools. And if the States dissent, it is resorting to bullying. In its efforts to browbeat these States, it is not even concerned that the education of children in these States is going to suffer because of stoppage of SSA funds.
iii) Decline in Number and Quality of Teachers
The introduction to NEP-2020 emphasises the importance of good quality teachers. It recognises that “the teacher must be at the centre of the fundamental reforms in the education system”. It says that we “must re-establish teachers, at all levels, as the most respected and essential members of our society”. NEP “must help recruit the very best and brightest to enter the teaching profession at all levels, by ensuring livelihood, respect, dignity, and autonomy …”[24]
A comparison with the Modi Government’s education policies makes it evident that all this is empty talk.
One of the biggest problems afflicting our school education system is shortage of teachers. The worst affected are government schools:
- In 2017–18, of the total 8.4 lakh primary schools in the country (all managements), 80,623 schools (9.57%) were single teacher primary schools — implying that one in ten primary schools in the country had just one teacher! Shockingly, the overwhelming majority of these were not private schools but government schools! As per official data, in 2017–18, 70,235 or 10% of all government primary schools, and 2,132 or 11% of all government aided primary schools were single teacher schools! [25]
- Even more staggering is the fact that even among the upper primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in the country, 24,479 schools were single teacher schools. Of these, again the majority were government schools: 15,398 government schools, and 1,025 government-aided schools were single teacher schools (data for 2017–18).[26] How can a single teacher teach a secondary or higher secondary school!
- After 2017–18, the government has stopped releasing data on single-teacher schools. But in response to a parliamentary question, the Minister for Education replied that in 2021–22, there were 1,17,285 one-teacher schools in the country.[27] In just four years (2018 to 2022), the number of single teacher schools had increased from 1.05 lakh to 1.17 lakh — an increase of 11.6%! No wonder that subsequent UDISE reports have stopped releasing data on single teacher schools.[28]
- More than 70 percent primary schools (all managements) had three or less than three teachers (data for 2015–16, after which the government has stopped releasing such data).[29]
Despite these appalling statistics, that clearly point to our school system suffering from a severe shortage of teachers, the government is not interested in recruiting more teachers. On the contrary, official data admits that the total number of teachers in government schools has steadily declined over the period 2016–17 to 2021–22 (data is not available after 2021–22) by 1.15 lakh (Chart 5).
Chart 5: Total Teachers in Government Schools, 2014–2021 (in lakh) [30]
Data excludes teachers in government-aided schools. For detailed data, see Appendix.
With NEP pushing for merger of schools to set up school clusters, this number is going to further decrease in the coming years. For instance, in Maharashtra alone, the State government has announced the closure of 14,783 schools, which will render 29,707 teachers surplus.[31]
Official data also reveal that a significant number of these teachers are not professionally qualified. As of 2017–18, nearly 15% of the government teachers (7.3 lakh out of a total of 49.8 lakh), and 27% of the teachers in private unaided schools (8.4 lakh out of 30.6 lakh) were not professionally qualified (UDISE reports for subsequent years have stopped reporting this data.)[32] These should have been worrying numbers for any education system concerned about quality of education. But NEP does not even acknowledge this problem!
NEP also does nothing to address the other important issue of deterioration of service conditions of teachers and promotion of contractualisation. This has been an integral part of the gradual privatisation of the school education system that began to gather pace since the 1990s. Official data says that as of 2017–18, 13% of all government teachers (6.7 lakh) were either contractual or part-time.[33] Without giving job security to teachers, why will the “best and brightest” youth join the teaching profession? Only those who do not get better quality jobs will enter this profession, out of compulsion, and not because they have a passion for teaching. Instead of addressing this issue, NEP introduces an even worse ‘tenure track system’ for appointment and confirmation of teachers.[34] In the earlier system, teachers were made permanent after a defined probation period. The new system will enable school managements to keep teachers on contractual basis for an extended period, with only a promise of confirmation at some future date. They will be forced to serve the bidding of the higher officials and managements. How will this ensure their “respect, dignity, and autonomy”?
NEP also advocates the recruitment of “local teachers”. But it is silent on their service conditions.[35] Given the focus of the Modi Government on setting up a tiny number of elite schools, making a huge increase in its budget allocation for them while reducing the budget for the remaining 99% government schools, and forcing the States to toe this line, this only means that they will also be recruited as contract teachers, and given a fraction of the pay of regular teachers.
NEP-2020 thus promotes contractualisation of teachers. Simultaneously, it proposes to abolish reservation in both recruitment and promotion of teachers. While the word ‘reservation’ finds no mention in the entire 60 page policy document, the document affirms: “Teachers doing outstanding work must be recognized and promoted … Therefore, a robust merit-based structure of tenure, promotion, and salary structure will be developed …” It goes on to say: “Vertical mobility of teachers based on merit will … be paramount …”[36] The NEP thus seeks to replace the entire Constitutional provision of social justice by the misleading concept of ‘merit’ which represents the social privileges of the upper classes/castes inherited over generations.[37] Following an uproar on this issue after the announcement of the NEP-2020, the Minister for Education stated that the NEP will not dilute provisions of reservation in educational institutions enshrined in the Constitution,[38] but the fact of the matter is that there is no mention of the word “reservation” in the NEP.
iv) Severe Shortage of Classrooms
NEP-2020 proclaims that the “credibility of Government schools shall be re-established” and for this, “special care shall be taken to ensure that no school remains deficient on infrastructure support”. In reality, except for creating a few ‘schools of excellence’ like PM SHRI schools, the government is starving the remaining 99% schools of funds with the result that they suffer from dilapidated buildings, rickety furniture, lack of separate washrooms for girls, absent teachers, some even have no electricity and drinking water facilities. Here are some staggering facts from official DISE data (these figures are for 2017–18; subsequent official reports have stopped giving this data; but given the overall orientation of the Modi Government towards ordinary government schools, the condition of these schools must only have worsened since then):
- 55,226 schools (of which 49,420 were primary schools) — 3.5% of the total schools in the country — functioned with just a single classroom (or no classroom). 80% of these (43,672) were government schools, of which 3,767 were upper primary / secondary / higher secondary schools. Even imagining a secondary or higher secondary school functioning in a single classroom is impossible! [39]
- 57% of all primary schools (all managements) had three or less than three classrooms.[40]
- The condition of our schools is so bad that 44% schools did not even have a boundary wall.[41]
Combining the above data for inadequate teachers and inadequate classrooms in primary schools leads to the jaw-dropping conclusion that:
- a single teacher is teaching two or three different classes at the same time in a single room in a majority of the primary schools in the country!
- the situation is quite bad in the senior-level schools in the country too.
v) High Drop-Out Rate
Therefore, it is not at all surprising that of those who enrol in school in Class-1, a large number don’t complete even elementary education. The drop-out rates at various levels are (figures are for 2021–22):
- Elementary level: 21.2% (this means that of 100 children enrolled in Class-1, 78.8 complete Class-8);
- Secondary level: 46.6% (of 100 children enrolled in Class-1, 53.4 complete Class-10).
- Of 100 children enrolled in Class-1, only 41.9 reach Class-11.[42]
vi) Declining Quality of Education
And for those who complete elementary education, the quality of education imparted is so bad that a majority of them they can hardly be called educated! The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is an extensive nationwide citizen-led rural household survey conducted by the NGO Pratham that provides a snapshot of children’s schooling and learning in rural India. Its 2022 report found that:
- 57% children in Class-5 are not able to read Class 2–level text;
- 30% children in Class-8 are not able to read Class 2–level text;
- 55% children in Class-8 cannot solve a simple division problem.
The ASER report also found that learning abilities of children have deteriorated over the past decade:
- the proportion of children enrolled in Class-5 who can at least read a Class 2-level text fell from 47% in 2012 to 43% in 2022; and
- the percentage of children in Class-8 who can do simple division fell from 48% in 2012 to 45% in 2022.[43]
vii) Sharp Reduction in Scholarships for School Students
The previous governments had been sensitive to promoting education among the most disadvantaged / deprived sections of Indian society, and for that, had instituted several scholarships to encourage them to enrol in school. An insensitive Modi Government has scrapped or scaled down most of these scholarship schemes for school children from scheduled castes and tribes, girls and minorities that encouraged them to complete higher secondary education:
- It has stopped pre-matric scholarships for students from class 1 to 8 belonging to SC, ST and OBC communities from the academic year 2022–23.[44] This scheme now gives scholarships for Class 9 and 10 students only.
- It has discontinued the scholarship under the National Scheme for Incentive to Girl Child for Secondary Education — the scheme provided girls belonging to SC–ST communities who passed Class 8 a scholarship of Rs 3,000 per year to encourage them to pursue education till Class 12.[45]
- Pre-Matric Scholarship for minorities, for students from Class 1 to 8, has also been discontinued. Now only students in Class 9 and 10 are given this scholarship.[46]
- The Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship for meritorious girls for higher secondary education that was provided by the Maulana Azad Education Foundation has also been discontinued. Similarly, the Ministry of Minority Affairs had launched a program called Naya Savera to provide minority students of Class 11 and 12 free coaching for competitive examinations, so that their participation in government and private jobs improves. This scheme has also been discontinued from 2022–23.[47]
- The government has also made big cuts in funding for post-matric scholarships for students from marginalised communities.[48]
viii) Decline in School Enrolment
All these facts only go to show that the tall claims made in NEP-2020 about improving the quality of our public education system are just empty rhetoric. On the contrary, during the Modi years, the public school education system has suffered an unprecedented decline. The severe deterioration in the quality of government schools has led to children exiting the government school system in droves; those who can afford it have entered private schools. The result is that probably for the first time since independence, total school enrolment (in all schools, government as well as private) has actually declined! Over the period 2014–15 to 2019–20:
- the total number of students in government schools declined from 14.41 crore to 12.81 crore, a fall of 1.6 crore (11.1%) in just 5 years;
- while total student enrolment in private unaided schools increased by 96 lakh over these five years (from 7.93 crore to 8.89 crore), it was not enough to compensate for the decline in government school enrolment; consequently,
- total enrolment in all schools (government and private) fell from the peak of 26.06 crore in 2015–16 to 25.1 crore in 2019–20, a decline of 96 lakh (see Chart 6).
Chart 6: Student Enrolment in Schools, 2014–2021 (in crore) [49]
Total students excludes students in pre-primary; total students includes students in government schools, government-aided schools, private unaided schools and unrecognised schools and other schools; enrolment in government schools does not include students in government-aided schools. For detailed data, see Appendix.
After that, the pandemic struck. The Modi Government’s callous handling of the pandemic led to sharp rise in poverty and unemployment in the country, because of which lower-middle class and even some middle class parents found it difficult to send their children to fee-charging private schools. Lakhs of students shifted from private schools to government schools. The increase in student enrolment in government schools has continued during the post-pandemic years, but it has not been enough to compensate for the decline in the pre-pandemic period. Therefore, on the whole, during the Modi years (2014–15 to 2021–22) (we do not have data for subsequent years):
- student enrolment in government schools has declined by 36 lakh (from 14.41 lakh in 2014–15 to 14.05 lakh in 2021–22;
- total student enrolment in all schools (government and private) has fallen from the peak reached in 2015–16 of 26.06 crore to 25.57 crore in 2021–22, a decline by 49 lakh (Chart 6).
ix) Closure of Government Schools
The decline in government school enrolment has provided the perfect alibi for the Modi Government to shut down government schools. Official data reveals that during the first seven years of the Modi Government (2014–15 to 2021–22) for which data is available:
- the government has shut down 84,700 schools: the total number of government schools fell from 11.07 lakh in 2014–05 to 10.22 lakh in 2021–22;
- private unaided schools increased by 47,000 over this period;
- the increase in private unaided schools has not been able to compensate for the sharp decline in government schools, because of which the total number of schools has declined by 70,000 (from the peak of 15.59 lakh in 2017–18 to 14.89 lakh in 2021–22) (see Chart 7).
Chart 7: Number of Schools by Management, 2014–2021 (in lakh) [50]
Total schools includes government schools, government-aided schools, private unaided schools and unrecognised schools and other schools; government schools does not include government aided schools; private unaided schools does not include unrecognised and other schools. For detailed data, see Appendix.
The closure of government schools is going to accelerate in the coming years, as NEP proposes merger of schools within a radius of 5 to 10 kilometers into what it calls “school complexes / clusters”. Each cluster / complex will consist of “one secondary school together with all other schools offering lower grades in its neighbourhood including Anganwadis.”[51] (The earlier policy mandated that schools should be within 1 km walking distance from the habitation of a child at the primary level and 3 km at the upper primary level.) In accordance with the NEP, the Maharashtra Government recently gave its approval to the closure of 14,783 schools and their merger into cluster schools.[52]
This is also going to accelerate school drop-outs. The closure of nearly 15,000 schools in Maharashtra is going to affect around 1.85 lakh students. Not many of these parents will be willing to send their child to a school located anywhere from 5 to 10 km from their home, as they would have to travel by bus.[53]
All this can mean only one thing — that the Modi Government is simply NOT INTERESTED in providing good quality education to all our children. While creating a tiny number of well-funded good quality PM SHRI schools — to ‘showcase’ its commitment to providing high quality school education — it is actually seeking to ruin the quality of the remaining 99% of our public education system, thereby creating the grounds for privatisation of school education. Lakhs of children are being pushed out of government schools. Those who can afford it are joining fee-charging private schools.
The worst sufferers of this ‘education crisis’ — decline in number of schools and decline in school enrolment — are obviously children from the weakest sections, especially children from Dalit, Adivasi and minority families, and girl children. Of the lakhs of children being pushed out of school, they must be constituting the largest number.
x) Vocationalisation of School Education
The Modi Government has a plan for these drop-outs. It seeks to corral them into vocational training so that they become ‘cheap trained child labourers’ for corporate houses, enabling the latter to make even more profits.
This is what NEP is all about, and hence it was imposed upon the nation in the midst of the corona pandemic. Under the cover of a lot of florid jargon, NEP essentially advocates “multiple pathways to learning involving both formal and non-formal education modes.” It further says that alternate programs will be offered to meet the needs of children “who are not able to attend a physical school” such as “vocational education courses/programmes”.[54] So rather than finding ways to bring back to school all children who are out of school, NEP calls for giving them vocational training in the name of education.
Not only that, NEP encourages students in government schools also to opt for vocational courses. It calls for introducing students to vocational crafts during Grades 6 to 8 [55], and then giving them the “option of exiting after Grade 10 and re-entering in the next phase to pursue vocational or any other courses available in Grades 11–12”.[56] NEP emphasises: “Vocational education will be integrated in the educational offerings of all secondary schools in a phased manner over the next decade.”[57]
In a multi-layered discriminatory education system, where there are rich schools for the rich, a tiny number of elite well-funded government schools, and a huge number of poorly funded government schools with inadequate teachers, classrooms and facilities, all this essentially means that NEP is encouraging students from poor / weaker sections of society to opt for vocational education. NEP puts vocational courses at par with academic courses and gives students the ‘choice’ of opting for either of these. Thus, NEP advocates a two-track education system. On the one hand, students from upper castes / upper classes studying in private schools, and a tiny number of students from ordinary families studying in elite government schools (Kendriya / Navodaya Vidyalayas and PM SHRI schools), will be focussing on academic courses so that they do well in Class X and XII exams, enter higher education and later get a decent-paying job. And on the other hand, students from 90% of our population belonging to the constitutional category of ‘Socially and Educationally Backward Classes’ [who are deliberately mis-labelled as Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups in this policy document], studying in ordinary underfunded government schools, would be encouraged to opt for vocational courses so that they can exit school to pursue their caste-based family occupation or take up whatever low-wage jobs are available in the market.
The Modi Government’s NEP-2020 is the first policy since independence to deny formal classroom-based school education to children from weaker sections of society.[58]
Part II: Higher Education
NEP-2020 on Higher Education
The NEP places a lot of emphasis on developing “quality higher education” whose purpose is “more than the creation of greater opportunities for individual employment”. Out of the 60 page NEP document, 17 pages are devoted to higher education.
The NEP emphasises the “extremely important role” of higher education “in promoting human as well as societal well-being and in developing India as envisioned in its Constitution …” It says that higher education must seek to “develop character, ethical and Constitutional values, intellectual curiosity, scientific temper, creativity, spirit of service, and 21st century capabilities across a range of disciplines …”[59] But in practice, the Modi regime has sought to instill exactly the opposite values in our higher educational institutions (HEIs) — intolerance, communalism and majoritarianism, subversion of democracy, illiberalism, deepening of the traditional gender and caste hierarchies of Indian society, vilifying minorities and labelling them anti-national to justify attacks on them, return to backward values, promotion of hero-worship and other such values — that are in direct opposition to our Constitutional values. All dissent is being criminalised; the ruling regime is seeking to transform our universities and colleges into ‘propaganda tools’ of its anti-Constitutional ideology. But let us not discuss this issue further, as it goes beyond the scope of this article, and focus on NEP and the ‘hardware’ of our HEIs.[60]
The NEP is full of high-flown rhetoric regarding creating “commitment to institutional excellence”; creation of a higher education system that aims “to develop all capacities of human beings — intellectual, aesthetic, social, physical, emotional, and moral in an integrated manner”; creation of a “multidisciplinary education” system that integrates “the humanities and arts with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics”; creation of universities that will engage in “high quality teaching and research”; and most importantly, will have “motivated, energised and capable faculty” to realise these goals. It calls for “moving towards a higher educational system consisting of large, multidisciplinary universities and colleges”; “moving towards a more multidisciplinary undergraduate education”; and “moving towards faculty and institutional autonomy”. The policy says that while both public and private institutions will be promoted, there would be “a strong emphasis on developing a large number of outstanding public institutions.” [61]
But there is not a single word about the biggest problem plaguing our higher education system — lack of adequate public funding to realise these goals. Private investors will only invest in education if they can make a profit; for them, education is a commodity to be sold, and students consumers. If our universities are to be places where students and teachers together work to address the problems facing the country and “enable the development of an enlightened, socially conscious, knowledgeable, and skilled nation”,[62] it is essential that they be public funded.
Let us take a look at state of funding of our higher education system four years after the release of NEP-2020.
Budget Allocation for Higher Education
The budgetary allocation for higher education in this year’s budget, when compared to the actual spending in 2014–15, indicates that overall spending on higher education during the past 11 Modi budgets has increased at a CAGR of 7.48%.[63] It has thus marginally increased in real terms. However, when compared to last year’s revised estimate, the higher education budget this year has been drastically cut by a huge 17% (Table 4).
Table 4: Modi Government’s Budget Allocations for Education, 2014 to 2024 (Rs crore)
| 2014–15 A (1) | 2023–24 RE (2) | 2024–25 BE (3) | Increase, 3 over 1, % (CAGR) | Increase, 3 over 2, % | |
| Department of Higher Edn. | 23,152 | 57,244 | 47,620 | 7.48 | –16.81 |
Nevertheless, within this pruned higher education budget:
- Rs 34,479 has been allocated for just around 160 elite higher educational institutions — the IITs, IIMs, IISERs, NITs, IIITs, IISc and Central Universities.
- Another Rs 1,800 crore has been allocated for setting up ten so-called ‘world class institutions’.
- In all, of the total higher education budget, more than three-quarters (76%) is being spent on just 170 elite HEIs (Table 5).
- The budget for these elite HEIs in last year’s revised estimates was Rs 32,201 crore. Their budget has thus been increased by 12.7% this year.
The axe has fallen on budget allocation for ordinary colleges:
- Allocation for the University Grants Commission (UGC), that regulates higher educational institutions in the country and provides grants to around 20,000 colleges and several hundred universities, has been drastically cut from Rs 6,409 crore in 2023–24 RE to Rs 2,500 crore this year — a reduction of 61%! The allocation for the UGC was Rs 8,906 crore in 2014–15 A. It means that during the past decade, the Modi Government has slashed its funding for our colleges and universities that provide higher education to lakhs of students by a whopping 72% (in nominal terms, implying the reduction in real terms is even more)!
- Allocation for the All India Council for Technical Education, the regulator of engineering education in India, is the same as last year’s revised estimate — at a low Rs 400 crore. It’s allocation has remained virtually stagnant in the last eleven Modi budgets.
- The Rashtriya Uchha Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) is the most important Centrally Sponsored Scheme for providing aid to State higher and technical institutions to improve their quality, equity, access, and research. This scheme was allocated Rs 2,043 crore in 2022–23 BE and Rs 1,500 crore in 2023–24 BE; spending was Rs 361 crore in 2022–23 Actuals and Rs 500 crore in 2023–24 RE. This year, our self-loving Prime Minister has decided that this scheme too should be renamed after him, so it has been rechristened Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) — and it has been allocated an enhanced Rs 1,815 crore. How much will actually be spent, we shall know 2 years later.
Table 5: Allocation for Elite HEIs vs Ordinary HEIs, 2024–25 BE (Rs crore)
| Elite HEIs | Ordinary HEIs | ||
| Budget | Budget | ||
| IITs | 10,325 | UGC | 2,500 |
| IIMs | 212 | AICTE | 400 |
| NIT+IIEST | 5,040 | RUSA | 1,815 |
| IISERs+IISc | 2,458 | ||
| IIITs | 516 | ||
| Central Universities | 15,928 | ||
| Setting up World Class Institutions | 1,800 | ||
| Total: Elite HEIs (1) | 36,279 | Total: Ordinary HEIs (2) | 4,715 |
| (1) as % of Higher Education budget | 76.2% | (2) as % of Higher Education budget | 9.9% |
With such tiny allocations for the UGC, AICTE and RUSA, most government funded colleges are starved of funds and so, to meet their expenses, are being forced to increase student fees using all kinds of excuses. Consequently, studying in government funded educational institutions is also becoming unaffordable for students from poor families.
At the same time, the Modi Government is reducing scholarships provided to students from SC/ST/OBC/minority/women and other weaker sections of society. Within the budget document of the Department of Higher Education, the provision for this comes under the head ‘Student Financial Aid’. The allocation for ‘Student Financial Aid’ has fluctuated from Rs 1,737 crore in 2014–15A and Rs 2,177 crore in 2015–16 A to Rs 1,872 crore in 2021–22 A, Rs 1,603 crore in 2022–23 A and Rs 1,908 crore in this year’s BE. But within this, the allocation for scholarships is very small and has remained stagnant at around Rs 200 crore. The bulk of the financial aid being given to students is in the form of interest subsidy on student loans. From last year (2023–24 budget), the sub-heads ‘Interest Subsidy’ and ‘Scholarships for College and University Students’ have been merged under the bumptious rubric PM Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan (PM-USP) Yojna. While the total allocation for student financial aid has not increased, rather it has decreased as compared to 2015–16 A, we will no longer know what is the allocation for scholarships. The PM and FM can now quietly further reduce and even eliminate this allocation, and provide only interest subsidy on education loans to students. Our suspicion is not unfounded. The FM in her budget speech this year talked only of student loans: “I am happy to announce a financial support for loans upto Rs 10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions. E-vouchers for this purpose will be given directly to 1 lakh students every year for annual interest subvention of 3 per cent of the loan amount.”
Apart from the Department of Higher Education, the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Minority Affairs also give scholarships for higher education. These scholarships too have seen substantial cuts.[64]
Such is the generosity of the Modi Government towards providing scholarships for higher education to students. It is willing to spend lakhs of crores of rupees on building bullet trains and converting 4-lane expressways to 8-lane expressways, but is not willing to spend a few hundred crores on providing scholarships to students from the marginalised sections of society.
The drastic reduction in funding for government higher education institutions has created favourable conditions for acceleration of privatisation of higher education. According to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021–2022, that was released by the Ministry of Education in January 2024:
- Two-third of all colleges (65.3%) are private unaided colleges; and 40.4% of all universities are private unaided universities. Together, these private unaided institutions (64.6% of all HEIs) account for 40% of the total student enrolment;
- While government institutions account for only a quarter of HEIs (22.5%), they account for nearly half the student enrolment (44.2%) (Chart 8). The reason is obvious: their fees is less.[65]
Chart 8: Distribution of HEIs and Student Enrolment in HEIs*, by Management [66]
* Data excludes Stand alone institutions
Private HEIs are for-profit institutions; therefore, very few students can afford their fees.
But this does not mean that the quality of education in these private for-profit HEIs is better. The government has established the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) to evaluate, assess and accredit HEIs in the country. It assesses universities and colleges on the basis of a number of criteria and grades the institutions. The NAAC website says that as on 21 August 2023, only 441 universities and 9,413 colleges had been accredited by NAAC, of which 245 universities and 1,964 colleges had received A grade.[67] The AISHE 2021–22 report says that there were 1,168 universities and 45,473 colleges in the country in 2021–22. In all probability, the colleges and universities that have not been accredited by NAAC must be below average, which is why they have avoided accreditation by it. This leads to the dismal conclusion that:
- 64% of the universities and 82% of all colleges in the country are of below average standard;
- Only 21% of all universities and 4.3% of all colleges are top grade (graded A by NAAC) (see Chart 9). [68]
Chart 9: HEIs Accredited by NAAC [69]
Given this state of our higher education, it is not surprising that in 2021–22, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education for the age group 18–23 years was a lowly 28.4.[70] The effective GER is actually less than 28.4, as many of our youth are studying in shabby, derelict colleges where hardly any teaching takes place, or have enrolled in open universities many of which are a big scam. But even if we ignore this, and take India’s GER as 28.4, it is much below that of other developing countries with whom we like to compare ourselves — China (72), Brazil (60) and Mexico (46). The GER of the developed countries is much higher: USA’s higher education GER is 79, UK is 83, Germany is 76 and Canada is 78. The world average is 42.[71]
It is now four years since the announcement of NEP-2020. Based on the above discussion about the approach of the Modi Government towards higher education, we can now analyse the real intent behind its flowery language.
The NEP policy document does not even make a mention of any of the above problems with our higher education system. Proclaiming that the higher education system needs re-energising and a “complete overhaul”,[72] it sets a target of making all government HEIs fully autonomous over a period of 15 years.[73] While NEP says that this autonomy will be academic and administrative, and the HEIs would be provided adequate financial support,[74] this assurance is only on paper. In reality, the Modi Government is pushing all government HEIs to become financially autonomous — this is evident from the drastic reduction in fund allocation for the UGC and AICTE. The fees in government HEIs are already soaring; in the coming years, they are going to go through the roof. Only students from more affluent families will be able afford these high fees. This means that among government HEIs, only the relatively more elite / prestigious HEIs will survive, where children from middle class families prefer to go to study; the ordinary universities and colleges catering to students from poor families will be forced to close down.
At the same time, NEP-2020 encourages the entry of private sector into higher education, under the guise of permitting entry of “philanthropic institutions” in education. It makes no effort to distinguish between philanthropy and profiteering. It says that no distinction will be made between public and private institutions, they will be treated “on par”. It allows these “philanthropic institutions” (in reality, private for-profit institutions) to make profits (NEP uses a more mellifluous word for this — ‘surpluses’) by giving them complete freedom to set fees and salary structure (of teachers and other staff). The only requirement is, that they must be transparent in financial matters. So, NEP allows profit-making, only you must be transparent about it! The other restriction is that surpluses must be reinvested in the education sector — needless to say, private institutions know how to siphon out profits.[75]
NEP proposes to replace the three-year undergraduate degree program with a four-year program — which is also going to adversely affect students from weaker backgrounds as it increases the cost of completing a degree course. NEP also has a proposal to provide a lollipop for students not able to complete the extended 4-year degree course. It provides for “multiple exit points” in higher education courses — students can exit the 4-year degree course after 1 or 2 or 3 years of education, and they will be given a certificate certifying the number of years they have studied. Given the high unemployment levels in the country, this certificate is going to have little job value.[76]
There is little reason for doubt: the Modi Government is seeking to deny higher education to children from the marginalised sections of society. It wants to corral them into vocational education — to provide cheap skilled labour for big corporate houses. NEP even lays out a timeline for this: “By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education system shall have exposure to vocational education, for which a clear action plan with targets and timelines will be developed.” To implement this, it is necessary that: “Vocational education … be integrated into all school and higher education institutions in a phased manner over the next decade.”[77]
It is the return of Manuvaad once again, in a new garb.
Cogs in the Corporate Wheel
The corporate–fascist alliance ruling the country is very clear in its outlook. There is no need to educate the young, especially those from the marginalised sections — only then can they be transformed into mindless automatons in the service of virulent Hindutva. So the overall budget for government colleges where children of the poor study has been sharply reduced in the ten years of Modi rule.
But corporate houses also need good quality engineers and managers. And so, within the reduced budget for higher educational institutions, the spending on elite engineering / management colleges has been greatly increased, and constitutes three-fourth of the higher education budget. Corporate houses are entering the higher education sector and opening elite universities and colleges across the country — which cater exclusively to the children of the rich.
At the same time, corporates also need skilled workers for their assembly lines. For this, the youth must be trained — not educated — so that they can become cogs in the corporate wheel. We have discussed above that NEP explicitly advocates that students not able to afford the high fees of private schools / colleges shift to vocational education. The Modi Government is so serious about promoting this, that it has even opened a separate ministry for this, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The budget allocation for this ministry has increased by more than four times since it was launched nine years ago (Table 6).
Table 6: Budget Allocations for Skill Development (Rs crore)
| 2015–16 A | 2023–24 RE | 2024–25 BE | |
| Ministry of Skill Development | 1,007 | 3,260 | 4,520 |
One thing the Modi Government does well is advertise. So, like all its other schemes, the MSDE was launched with much grandeur and pomp. But since then, it has mismanaged this project too. While delivering her interim budget speech on 1 February 2024, the FM claimed that the Skill India Mission (the new name of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana or PMKVY), the flagship programme of the MSDE, has trained 1.4 crore youth. But she is silent on why this number is way below the target set for this scheme when it was launched in 2015: the National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 had aimed to skill 40 crore workers by 2022.[78]
The official website of PMKVY claims that placement performance of the scheme is 54%. But an analysis of the detailed data on the website reveals that of the 1.37 crore persons who have received training under this scheme since its inception, 1.1 crore passed the required assessments and became certified, but only 24.5 lakh received job placements. This means that only 22.2% of those who completed and passed training got placements, and not 54% as claimed by the website.[79]
The reason for this low placement rate is the poor quality of the courses being offered under this program. These courses produce only half- and quarter-trained workers, and the degrees/certificates of these individuals don’t carry much value in the labour market as workers don’t learn the required skills through these courses.[80]
Budget 2024: More of the Same
Despite this low placement rate, the FM has announced another plan for skilling youth and providing them jobs. In her budget speech, she announced a new scheme for skill development of youth wherein 20 lakh youth will be skilled over a five-year period, for which “1,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) will be upgraded.” She also said that the Centre would spend Rs 30,000 crore over the next five years for upgrading ITIs.
There is nothing new in this proposal. It is only a repackaging of the Skill India Mission in a new bottle. That program skilled and placed 24.5 lakh in jobs over 9 years; now the FM is hoping that the new skilling program will benefit 20 lakh over the next 5 years.
Thus, the FM has set a very modest skilling target. And the target of upgrading 1,000 ITIs can only be called tiny — as there are over 2,500 public sector ITIs and another 12,000 private ones. It is difficult to say how much serious the FM is about this proposal; though she announced that the Centre would spend Rs 6,000 crore every year on upgrading ITIs, the actual allocation in the budget is only Rs 1,000 crore.
In any case, the bigger problem with this skilling program is that it is based on the understanding that it is lack of skills that is the main reason for the country’s terrible unemployment crisis. While it is true that India’s ‘Vocational Education and Training’ programs have historically been neglected, as has been pointed out by analysts,[81] at the same time, it needs to be kept in mind that the real reason for India’s high unemployment levels is not lack of skills, but that there are simply no jobs.
Appendix: Total Number of Schools, Teachers and Student Enrolment,
2014 to 2021 [82]
| 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | |
| Total schools | 15,16,892 | 15,22,346 | 15,35,610 | 15,58,903 | 15,51,000 | 15,07,708 | 15,09,136 | 14,89,115 |
| Total PUA | 2,88,164 | 2,95,059 | 3,03,725 | 3,22,201 | 3,26,228 | 3,37,499 | 3,40,753 | 3,35,844 |
| Total GS | 11,07,118 | 11,04,800 | 11,01,371 | 10,94,543 | 10,83,747 | 10,32,570 | 10,32,049 | 10,22,386 |
| Total students | 25,94,70,306 | 26,05,96,960 | 25,13,09,665 | 25,09,89,193 | 24,83,38,584 | 25,09,71,683 | 25,38,04,461 | 25,57,40,623 |
| Total students, PUA | 7,92,73,408 | 8,17,48,525 | 8,05,82,804 | 8,33,11,659 | 8,41,22,799 | 8,89,13,012 | 8,80,89,385 | 8,24,50,325 |
| Total students, GS | 14,41,44,802 | 14,31,52,260 | 13,72,22,799 | 13,17,71,929 | 12,87,16,369 | 12,81,42,596 | 13,24,25,644 | 14,04,98,718 |
| Total teachers, GS | 49,31,149 | 49,36,414 | 49,97,350 | 49,81,422 | 49,47,608 | 49,38,868 | 49,27,099 | 48,82,446 |
PUA: Private Unaided Schools; GS: Government Schools
Notes
1. “Shri Dharmendra Pradhan Hails Budget 2024–25 as …”, PIB, 23 July 2024, https://www.education.gov.in.
2. ““Union Budget 2024 Proposes Rs 1.48 Lakh Crore for Education, Employment, Skilling”, 23 July 2024, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com.
3. “Education Gets Rs 1.48 Lakh Crore In Budget 2024”, 23 July 2024, https://www.ndtv.com.
4. “Education Budget 2024 Highlights: From Rs 1.48 Lakh Crore Allocation to New Internship Opportunities”, 23 July 2024, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
5. “Budget Allocates Rs 1.48 Lakh Cr For Education, Employment, Skill, Says FM”, 23 July 2024, https://www.business-standard.com.
6. National Education Policy 2020 Announced, 29 July 2020, https://pib.gov.in.
7. Economic Survey 2023–24, p. 173, available online at https://www.indiabudget.gov.in.
8. “Introduction”, New Education Policy 2020 [henceforth: NEP], MHRD, Government of India, p. 3, https://www.education.gov.in.
9. NEP: 26.1, p. 60–61, ibid.
10. Statement Indicating the Public Expenditure on Education, Ministry of Education, https://www.education.gov.in.
11. World Bank figures: “Government Expenditure on Education, Total (% of GDP) – World”, https://data.worldbank.org, accessed on 22 July 2024.
12. NEP: 26.2, p. 61, op. cit.
13. Economic Survey, various years.
14. NEP: Introduction, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, pp. 5, 10, ibid.
15. For more on this, see our article: Neeraj Jain, “Analysing Budget 2024–25 from a People’s Perspective, Part 7: Reduction in Social Sector Expenditure; Violation of Federalism”, 7 October 2024, https://countercurrents.org.
16. Our calculation, assuming average inflation rate of 6% per year.
17. PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI), https://dsel.education.gov.in, accessed on 23 July 2024.
18. All data for government schools and Kendriya Vidyalayas / Navodaya Vidyalayas taken from: “UDISE + Report 2021–22”, https://dashboard.udiseplus.gov.in.
19. Ibid.
20. Our calculation, assuming average inflation rate of 6% per year.
21. All data for government schools and Kendriya Vidyalayas / Navodaya Vidyalayas taken from: “UDISE + Report 2021–22”, op. cit.
22. Navneet Sharma, “Decoding PM-SHRI”, 16 September 2022, https://www.deccanherald.com; “Centre Stops School Scheme Funds to Delhi, Punjab & Bengal After States Refuse to Participate in PM-SHRI: Report”, 16 July 2024, https://www.deccanherald.com.
23. Figures for 2018–19 A, 2019–20 RE and 2020–21 BE, taken from: Analysis Of Budgeted Expenditure On Education, 2018–19 to 2020–21, Ministry of Education, 2022, pp. 106–110, https://www.education.gov.in. This would roughly be the ratio for remaining years too.
24. NEP: Introduction, p. 4, op. cit.
25. Data taken from: “School Education in India”, UDISE Flash Statistics 2017–18, NIEPA, New Delhi, http://udise.in/flash.htm. Data for subsequent years is not available.
26. Ibid.
27. Santosh Kaloji, “Data: There are 1.17 Lakh Single-Teacher Schools Across the Country in 2021–22”, 3 March 2023, https://factly.in.
28. Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) is a database about schools in India. The database was developed at the Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India and maintained by National Informatics Centre, Government of India.
29. Calculated by us from data given in: Elementary Education in Urban India, Analytical Report, 2015–16 and Elementary Education in Rural India, Analytical Report, 2015–16, NUEPA, New Delhi, available online at: http://schoolreportcards.in.
30. All data from UDISE reports. Data for 2014–15 to 2017–18 from: UDISE Flash Statistics 2017–18, op. cit. Data for subsequent years from: UDISE + Report 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, and 2021–22, https://dashboard.udiseplus.gov.in.
31. “Maharashtra: Schools with Less Than 20 Students to be Merged to Create Clusters”, 24 September 2023, https://indianexpress.com.
32. UDISE Flash Statistics, 2017–18, op. cit. Data for government teachers does not include teachers in government aided schools.
33. Ibid. Data for subsequent years not available. Data does not include teachers in government aided schools.
34. NEP: 5.17, p. 22, op. cit.
35. NEP: 2.3, p. 9 and NEP: 5.6, p. 21, ibid.
36. NEP: 5.17 and 5.19, p. 22, ibid.
37. For a more detailed discussion on this, see: “National Education Policy 2020: An Agenda of Exclusion and Enslavement”, AIFRTE document, April 2021, available on the AIFRTE website, “AIFRTE – Democratising Education”, https://aifrte.in. See also: Kumkum Roy, “National Education Policy Needs Close Scrutiny for What it Says, What it Doesn’t”, 31 July 2020, https://indianexpress.com.
38. “National Education Policy Upholds Quota Norms, Says Education Minister”, 2 December 2020, https://www.thehindu.com.
39. UDISE Flash Statistics 2017–18, op. cit.
40. This data is for 2015–16. Data for subsequent years is not available. Calculated by us from data given in: Elementary Education in Urban India, Analytical Report, 2015–16 and Elementary Education in Rural India, Analytical Report, 2015–16, op. cit.
41. UDISE Flash Statistics 2017–18, op. cit.
42. Calculations done by us, based on data given in: UDISE+ Flash Statistics, 2021–22, op. cit. The methodology adopted by us is: We have taken the annual drop-out rate data for primary level, and used it to calculate the overall drop-out rate for primary education. Then, we have used the Transition Rate data and annual drop-out rate for upper primary level, to calculate the overall elementary level drop-out rate. Using the same methodology, we have calculated the drop-out rates for senior schools.
43. Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2022, Provisional, January 2023, https://img.asercentre.org. The figures are weighted average for children in government and private schools.
44. “Only Class 9, 10 Students to be Considered for Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme”, 1 December 2022, https://indianexpress.com; Jayanth R., “Union Government Stops Pre-Matric Scholarship for SC, ST, OBC and Minority Students of Class 1 to 8”, 29 November 2022, https://www.thehindu.com.
45. “Centre Discontinues Incentive Scheme for Girl Students, Plans to Restructure the Scheme”, 27 July 2021, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com; “Union Budget 2022: No Schooling Scheme for Poor Girls”, 2 February 2022, https://www.telegraphindia.com.
46. For more on this, see: “The Reality of Scholarship Schemes for Religious Minorities in India”, 27 August 2023, https://www.thehindu.com.
47. Ibid. See also: Naya Savera Scheme, 3 August 2023, https://pib.gov.in.
48. For more details, see: Protiva Kundu, “Shrinking Education Budget has Hit Scholarships for Students from Deprived Communities”, 30 January 2020, https://www.indiaspend.com.
49. All data from UDISE reports. Data for 2014–15 to 2017–18 from: UDISE Flash Statistics 2017–18, op. cit. Data for subsequent years from: UDISE + Report 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, and 2021–22, https://dashboard.udiseplus.gov.in.
50. Source for data: ibid.
51. NEP: 7.6, p. 29, op. cit.
52. “Maharashtra: Schools with Less Than 20 Students to be Merged to Create Clusters”, op. cit.
53. Ibid.
54. NEP: 3.5, pp. 10–11, op. cit.
55. NEP: 4.26, p. 16, ibid.
56. NEP: 4.2, pp. 11–12, ibid.
57. NEP: 16.5, p. 44, ibid.
58. For more on this, see: “National Education Policy 2020: An Agenda of Exclusion and Enslavement”, AIFRTE document, op. cit.
59. NEP: 9.1, 9.1.1 and 9.1.3, p. 33, op. cit.
60. There are several articles available on the internet on this. See for instance: Mir Umar, “Once Bastions of Dissent, Indian Universities Now Face a Suffocating Environment of Surveillance and Censorship”, 2 April 2024, https://frontline.thehindu.com.
61. NEP: 19.5, p. 49; 10.14, 11.2 and 11.3, p. 36; 13, p. 40; 9.3, p. 34; and 10.9, p. 35; op. cit.
62. NEP: 9.1.3, p. 33, ibid.
63. Our calculation.
64. See: “After NEP 2020, Scholarship and Research Fellowship Funds Declined by Over Rs 1,500 Crore”, 19 March 2024, https://news.careers360.com.
65. Our calculations, based on data given in: All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021–2022, Department of Higher Education, New Delhi, https://cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in. In this data, we have excluded stand alone institutions. They include institutions like polytechnics, teacher training institutes, nursing institutes, etc.; while they account for 20.5% of all HEIs, they only account for 5% of total student enrolment. AISHE does not give the breakup of student enrolment in stand alone institutions. Also note that data also does not include those colleges and universities that did not respond to the survey. Of the total 1,168 universities, 1,162 responded to the survey, and of the total 45,473 colleges, 42,825 responded.
66. Chart based on our calculations, based on data given in: All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021–2022, ibid. Data excludes stand alone institutions as explained in Ibid.
67. Accreditation Status, http://naac.gov.in, accessed on 24 July 2024.
68. Our calculation, based on NAAC and AISHE data. 245 universities had received A grade out of 1168 universities = 21%; 1964 colleges had received A grade out of 45473 colleges = 4.3%. 17 universities had received C grade; 727 universities have avoided accredition; so assuming these are also below average, total universities below average = 727 + 17 = 744 or 64% of total universities. 1,159 colleges have received C grade; 36,060 colleges have avoided accredition, so assuming these are also below average, total colleges below average = 36060 + 1159 = 37219 or 82% of total colleges.
69. Data based on AISHE 2021–22 report (op. cit.) and NAAC data available at Accreditation Status, op. cit.
70. All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021–2022, op. cit.
71. “School Enrollment, Tertiary (% Gross)”, https://data.worldbank.org, accessed on 25 July 2024.
72. NEP: 9.3, p. 34, op. cit.
73. NEP: 10.11 and 19.12, pp. 35 and 49, ibid.
74. NEP: 10.11, p. 35, ibid.
75. NEP: 18.12, 18.13, 18.14 and 19.2, pp. 48–49, ibid.
76. NEP: 11.9, p. 37, ibid.
77. NEP: 16.5, 16.6, p. 44, ibid.
78. Santosh Mehrotra and Dr. Harshil Sharma, “Skill India Mission: Short Courses, No Employable Skills and a Lack of Jobs”, 21 March 2024, https://thewire.in.
79. Calculated from data given for PMKVY 3.0, PMKVY 2.0 and PMKVY 1.0 on the Dashboard of PMKVY website, https://www.pmkvyofficial.org. The government too admitted this in the Lok Sabha, in reply to a Parliamentary question. See: Prachi Salve, “DataViz: Govt’s Skill Development Scheme Placed Only 18% Candidates”, 19 September 2023, https://www.indiaspend.com. Santosh Mehrotra and Dr. Harshil Sharma also mention this in their article cited above (ibid.).
80. Santosh Mehrotra and Dr. Harshil Sharma, ibid.
81. Ibid.
82. All data from: “School Education in India”, UDISE Flash Statistics 2017–18, op. cit.; and UDISE PLUS reports, 19 September 2023, https://www.indiaspend.com.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Neeraj Jain is a social–political activist with an activist group called Lokayat in Pune, and is also the Associate Editor of Janata Weekly, a weekly print magazine and blog published from Mumbai. He is the author of several books, including ‘Globalisation or Recolonisation?’ and ‘Education Under Globalisation: Burial of the Constitutional Dream’.
