A deepening crisis

A deepening crisis

Context:

In 1966, the Kothari Commission had recommended that India should target at spending 6% of its GDP on education. However, even after 5 decades, India’s spending on education remains very low.

Why in news?

• When it comes to the education, Union Budget 2018 has offered a marginal increase on different routine expenses and reduction on some.
• In the Budget Speech the Finance Minister has referred to the importance of teacher education which has been appreciated.

Fund Issues:

• Despite favourable social climate, education has failed to become a matter of national concern.
• Budget spending on education has been low
• Union Budget 2018 has offered a marginal increase on different routine expenses and reduction on some.
• There has been no sign of funds to enable institutional recovery after a prolonged period of damage caused by financial cuts in higher education.
• Elementary education has been facing a crunch in supply of funds for improvement in quality

Issues with Teacher Training:

• Teacher training constitutes a relatively invisible, low-status sector of the education system.
• It has seldom received high-level attention.
• A few prestigious colleges that were set up under British rule a century ago have lost their importance.
• In the discourse of policy too, teacher training lacked emphasis. The current popular term ‘public policy’ does not cover teacher education at all.
• The Verma Committee Report highlighted the dismal state of teacher education, especially the corruption that has seeped into the regulatory system put in place in the mid-1990s.

Four-Year Option:

• The Finance Minister made a special mention of the four-year integrated B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education) programme as a way forward for achieving quality in teacher training.
• But the major hurdle being that teacher education will have to pay for its own growth.
• What the government is willing to invest in is mainly the in-service part of the sector.
• Institutions of higher education directly or indirectly affect teachers for all levels.
• The teachers affected by conditions in undergraduate colleges degrade the state of education
• Therefore, most importantly there has to be more public spending and a recovery plan to bring about changes in higher education for better teacher training.