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Source: The post is based on the article “Share of education in budgetary allocations has fallen over the past seven years: Survey” published in The Hindu on 1st February 2023.
What is the News?
According to the Economic Survey 2023, the share of education in budgetary allocations has fallen over the past seven years.
What are the key highlights from the Economic Survey on Education?
Share of Education in Budgetary allocation: The budgetary allocation for education as a percentage of total expenditure has dropped over the past seven years, from 10.4% to 9.5%.
– The share of education within the umbrella of the social services category has also reduced from 42.8% to 35.5% between the financial years 2015-16 and 2022-23.
– Part of this could be attributed to the faster growth in spending on health and other measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Improvement in GER: The financial year 2021-22 saw an improvement in Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER) in schools across all levels.
– GER stands for the enrolment in a specific level of education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the eligible official school-age population corresponding to the same level of education in a given school year.
The decline in dropout rates: There is a “steady decline” in school dropout rates at all levels from 14% in 2020-21 to 12.6% in 2021-22.
– Government schemes such as Samagra Shiksha, Right to Education(RTE) Act 2009, improvement in school infrastructure and facilities, residential hostel buildings, availability of teachers, regular training of teachers, free textbooks, uniforms for children and PM POSHAN Scheme played the major role in increasing enrollments and retaining students.
Higher Education: The number of medical colleges in the country has increased from 387 in 2014 to 648 in 2022 and the number of MBBS seats has increased from 51,348 to 96,077.
– The number of Indian Institutes of Technology rose from 16 to 23 between 2014 and 2022 and Indian Institutes of Management(IIMs) from 13 to 20.
Distance Education: Distance education in India has witnessed a 7% increase in enrollment in the financial year 2021-22 from FY20, and 20% increase since FY15.