Education boost: Govt fails to make elementary sense

If one analyzes the fine print of the education budget, the finance minister's talk of " demographic dividend" is just big talk.

Increase in allocation to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)—the vehicle for implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act—from Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 21,000 crore does not reveal the correct picture. Revised estimate for the SSA in 2010-11 had increased to Rs 19,000 crore after the RTE came into force. So, effectively, the increase is Rs 2,000 crore. Madhav Chavan of NGO Pratham said, "The overall increase in elementary education to Rs 29,000 crore from last year's Rs 26,000 crore is good enough only for inflation adjustment."

The bigger problem with elementary education allocation is the way the government has abdicated its responsibility. Nearly Rs 18,000 crore to elementary education comes not from gross budgetary support, but through Prathmik Shiksha Kosh—the non-lapsable fund where 2% education cess is collected.

Following protests from the HRD ministry, the mid-day meal scheme has got Rs 10,380 crore compared to last year's Rs 9,440 crore.

In higher education, institutions—mostly in poll-bound states—have got a one-time grant. These range from Rs 200 crore to IIT-Kharagpur to Rs 50 crore each to AMU centres in Bengal and Kerala and Rs 100 crore to Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. For Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, TN, and Madras School of Economics, it is Rs 20 crore.

Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University expects to start work on a Hindi dictionary with a grant of Rs 10 crore.

Pre-matric scholarship for SC/ST students had been in the works for a long time. The FM's announcement is a step in the right direction. 

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/union-budget-2011/Education-boost-Govt-fails-to-make-elementary-sense/articleshow/7598194.cms 

Government will universalize secondary education - Patil

New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil on Monday said that after Right to Education for primary education, the government is committed to universalizingsecondary education.

"My government is committed to universalizingsecondary education through the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan. Girls' hostels are being set up in each of the 3,500 educationally backward blocks in the country to bring secondary education within the reach of girls," the president said addressing a joint sitting of both houses of parliament on the first day of the budget session.

"The Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act is another step in my government's approach to right-based governance. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been aligned to the implementation of this act. It has been scaled up to universalizeelementary education with a universal mid-day meal programme to improve both enrolment and retention," she said in her hour-long speech.

Focusing on adult literacy, the president said that government's flagship Saakshar Bharat programme will be spread to more districts.

"The Saakshar Bharat programme is designed to improve adult literacy, especially among the disadvantaged sections of society. By 2012, it will extend to all 365 districts that have poor adult female literacy levels," she said.

Patil added that the government is taking steps to effect changes in the Apprenticeship Act "to introduce a large number of modular training courses, and to make skills training bankable".

The Apprenticeship Act requires firms to reserve 50 percent of new jobs forapprentices trained by them.

"Our country has a huge advantage in terms of being a young nation. Our young people have to be invested with skills if we are to reap the demographic dividend," she added.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Government_will_universalize_secondary_education_-_Patil_13558/