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= Governmental Spending on Public School Education in India =

Topic Paragraph
My wikipedia article will focus on finance within education, specifically India’s governmental spending on public school education. The Indian government’s National Education policy in 2019 highlighted that the country plans to double its education spending by the year 2030 (it will increase from 10% of overall government expenditure to 20%). With that being said, between the years 2019 and 2020, funding on education has not experienced any changes, revealing that the government has not allocated additional finances to education, as the National Education Policy requires. Furthermore, Indian states have decreased the percentage of funds allocated to school education from total public expenditure between the years 2012 and 2020, despite the fact that government revenue has experienced growth within this period. The main issues that will be covered include changes in governmental spending on public school education, sources of public school education funding, India's education funding and human development, policies impacting India's education funding as well as the public-private partnership in India's school education. The article will also compare education funding in India with that of other countries.

Introduction
Public schools in India are educational institutions run by government bodies. The country’s public school education system is divided into four levels, these being: lower primary (ages six to ten), upper primary (ages eleven and twelve), high secondary (ages thirteen to fifteen) and higher secondary (seventeen and eighteen). Over the years, the country has made noticeable improvements in its education system, through facilitating access to quality education, decreasing the number of children out-of-school, and increasing primary school enrollments. In 2006, the number of out-of-school children in India equaled 13.5 million, in 2014, this number shrunk to 6.1 million. Significant policies, acts, and law amendments, such as the National Education Plan 2020 (NEP) and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), have catalyzed these improvements. India has the second-largest public education system globally, however, spending on education is low when compared to other countries. Public school education in the country is financed by government bodies, mainly central and state governments.

Changes in Governmental Spending on Education Over Time
India’s governmental expenditure on school education only entails public schools and some government-aided schools. No government funds are spent on private schools. With that being said, in abidance with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (REA), the government funds private schools for every economically-weak student enrolled (25% of student enrollments in private schools are reserved for under-privileged children).

India’s poor educational attainment is due to the fact that public schools in the country are significantly underfunded. As recommended by the country’s National Education Policy (NEP), 6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should be spent on education, this includes primary, secondary and tertiary education. In the year 2021, expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP stood at 3.1%. This percentage is the lowest the country has reached in over 10 years. For instance, in 2016 this figure was at 3.5%, in 2013 it was at 3.8% and in 2010 it was at 3.4%



The public school system in India includes both primary and secondary education. The budget for school education is part of the total union budget, which is found on the annual financial statement, and allocated by the Ministry of Finance within the central government. The budget is handled by the Department of School Education and Literacy, which controls primary and secondary education in India. Over the years, the budget for school education has experienced an increase. In the year 2022, the funds allocated to school education amounted to Rs 63, 449 crore. In 2020, this budget stood at Rs 56, 386 crore. In 2017, school education allocations totaled Rs 46, 356 crore and in 2014, totaled Rs 38, 600 crore. Despite the fact that India's school education budget has demonstrated growth over the years, it has continued amounting to an average of 10.5% of the total government budget.

On average, India’s government has a higher expenditure per student in secondary level education (grades 9 to 12) than in primary level education (grades 1 to 8). The country’s government expenditure per primary student as a percentage of GDP per capita stood at 15.6% in 2020, while this value stood at 16.9% per secondary student. This was also the case in previous years. For instance, in 2012, this figure amounted to 14.9% per primary student and 15.7% per secondary student. When looking at India’s expenditure on primary and secondary education as a percentage of total government expenditure on education, it can also be seen that the latter has a higher expenditure. In 2020, spending on primary education totaled 28.4% of education expenditure (EE), while spending on secondary education totaled 41.4%. In previous years, for instance in 2010, primary EE amounted to 25.2% of total EE, while secondary EE amounted to 37.0%.

The changes in governmental spending on school education in India over the years is due to a number of reasons. One of the prominent reasons is the government’s efforts in implementing the National Education Policy (NEP), which requires increased spending every year. This is because it highlights the need for education of all children,  the reconstruction of school education systems and curriculums, and the implementation of new assessment approaches. Since the birth of COVID-19 in 2020, there has been increased pressure on the government to increase its spending on public school education. The shift to online education due to the pandemic has presented itself as an obstacle to learning, as only 12% of public schools in India have access to the internet and 39% have access to computers.

Sources of Public School Education Funding
Public school education in India is financed by both internal and external sources; the former plays a bigger role in educational funding in the country. Internal sources of funding (also referred to as domestic sources) consist of both public as well as private sources. Public sources refer to expenditure provided by local governments, state governments and central governments, obtained from both tax and non-tax streams of revenue. Private sources (also referred to as non-governmental sources) come from financial endowments and donations. As public school education in India is completely free for all students, they are not financed by school fees, and are funded by state and central governments for the most part.

One of the main ways in which India's central government finances public school education is through Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). These schemes are developmental programs funded with a specified government-to-state ratio, but are largely funded by the central government. One of the most prominent centrally sponsored schemes in India is the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). SSA is a central government scheme dedicated to the school education sector, arching from primary education levels to secondary education levels (from grades 1 to 12). This program is funded by the central and state governments in a 60:40 ratio. The aim of SSA is to elevate the quality of public school education through teacher training, equal learning opportunities for students, and effective learning outcomes.

In Northeastern India, states have high poverty rates and education is largely traditional, therefore the central government funds approximately 90% of centrally sponsored schemes. India’s central government also funds the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which is responsible for advising both state and central governments on strategies for the improvement of public school education. Furthermore, the NCERT is in charge of producing textbooks and providing teacher training.

State governments provide the most funding towards school education in Indian states. For instance in Maharashta, the central government’s decision to reduce expenditure on social sectors, such as school education, has meant that the state government only obtains 8.5% of its school education funding from the central government. Indian states notably differ in terms of their school education expenditure. To give an example, in 2022, Bihar committed around 16.5% of its total budget on school education expenditure, while Odisha committed 14.6% of its total budget towards the same allocation. Aside from partially funding centrally sponsored schemes (CSS), Indian states also design and fund state-specific school education schemes, such as programs in Bihar which incentivize girls in secondary school.

Comparing Education Funding in India With that of Other Countries
Even with India being one of the largest economies on a global scale, the country is notorious in its education expenditure when compared to almost all nations. Countries with the highest education expenditure spend approximately 10% or more of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education. In 2010 for instance, Cuba was the country with the highest education expenditure that reached approximately 12.4% of GDP. In the same year, India’s spending stood at 3.4%. In more recent years, such as 2018, India’s spending was also lower than other countries. To illustrate, Norway’s spending on education in that year was 7.7% of GDP (was considered the highest education expenditure for that year), while India’s was 3.3%. When comparing India’s spending on public education with that of other BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa), which are all considered the world’s leading emerging economies, India ranks fifth in its education expenditure over the years.

In comparison with other low-income countries (countries of a similar GDP per capita), India’s public spending on education is low. In 2021, India’s GDP per capita stood at 2,116 United States Dollars (USD), while its expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP stood at 3.1%. With that being said, Kenya’s GDP per capita amounted to 2,199 USD in the same year, and its education spending as a percentage of GDP totaled 5.1%. This was also the case for India in previous years. In the year 2016, India’s GDP per capita totaled 1,732 USD, and its education expenditure (EE) as a percentage of GDP was 3.5%. In the same year, Kenya’s GDP per capita totaled 1, 410 USD and its EE totaled 5.4% of GDP.

Countries such as Senegal and Zimbabwe, which had a notably lower GDP per capita than India in 2021 (1,603 USD and 1,665 USD respectively) , had a higher spending on education than India in the same year (5.3% of GDP and 3.6% of GDP respectively). This also applied in previous years. For example, in 2016, Senegal and Zimbabwe had respective GDP per capita of 1,269 USD and 1,464 USD, while their education expenditure totaled 5.1% and 5.5% of GDP.

Despite having a low education funding when compared to other countries, India is one of the only developing countries that has an efficient education expenditure. According to a study conducted by the World Bank, which explored the efficiency of education spending in improving access to and quality of education between the years 2000 and 2015, a total efficiency score of 87% was figured between all 130 countries involved. It is calculated that 13% of funds allocated to education globally had zero impact on access and quality of education world-wide. The study revealed that India scored an efficiency score of 91%. The average efficiency percentage scored by developed countries was 97%, while developing countries reached an average of 84%. India outperforms other developing countries when it comes to the efficiency of its spending on education.

India's Education Funding and Human Development
Among 180 countries involved in the United Nations’ Human Development Report, India ranks 131st. The Human Development Index (HDI) is composed of three measures used to rank nations in terms of economic as well as social development; these being: education, life expectancy and per capita income. The economic survey conducted by India’s Ministry of Finance in 2016 highlighted that the country has a weak education index as part of HDI (0.5), therefore more finances should be allocated towards education as a means of investment in human capital.

On a global scale, Norway ranks first place among the 180 countries involved in the UN’s Human Development Report, with a human development index of 0.957 in 2021. In the same year, the country spent 15.6% of its total budget on education. In 2021, India’s human development index stood at 0.645 and its education expenditure was 12.7% of the country’s total budget for that year.

Kerala is the only state in India where approximately 94% of its population can fully read and write. In 2019, the state had the highest human development index in India, 0.782, and its school education expenditure as a percentage of GDP was also the highest in the country (3.6%). The share of education in the state budget stands at 26%. Bihar, on the other hand, has the lowest human development index in India, which totals 0.574, and its education expenditure as a percentage of the states total budget stands at 16.5%. Other states, Delhi for instance, also has a high human development index (0.746) and a high education expenditure percentage (24.3%). Odisha ranks 32nd out of 36 states in terms of its human development index (0.606) and allocates 14.9% of its finances on education.

Policies, Acts and Amendments Impacting India's Education Funding
In its primary enactment, the Indian constitution described education as the responsibility of the state, making each state in charge of funding education and making it accessible to all its citizens. The central government was only responsible for few provisions. In the year 1976, an amendment was added to the constitution under article 42, which gave India a concurrent status of public education. Making education in India a concurrent subject meant that both the state and central governments were responsible for funding and legislating all levels of education, extending from primary to university level. This partnership between central and state governments gave both parties a role in policy making and enactment, with the central government having predominant authority in the case of disagreement.

India’s Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, also known as as the Right to Education Act (RTE), refers to the Indian Parliament’s act passed in August 2009, that provides free and obligatory elementary education to all students ranging between the ages of six to fourteen. In April 2010, the RTE was made effective and the country was one of 135 nations that made school education for children an integral right. The RTE also highlights that, until the child completes elementary level education, they shall not experience being dismissed, held back or required to pass examinations at board-level. Globally, the RTE is the only act in which the country’s government is responsible for making sure that all children enroll, attend and complete school education. The Indian government is also responsible for ensuring the presence of neighborhood schools, and providing school infrastructure, learning resources and teacher training. As education in India is a concurrent subject, funding for the implementation of the RTE was shared between the central and state governments in a 65 to 35 ratio. In North-Eastern states, this ratio was 90 to 10. A total of 38.2 billion USD was required to initiate the implementation of the act in April 2010. In June 2010, this ratio increased to 68 to 32, as the funds required for implementation grew.

India’s National Education Policy (NEP) replaces the country’s National Policy on Education (NPE) that was framed in 1986. The goal of the new policy is the universalization of public school education, ranging from pre-school level of education all the way to secondary levels. The policy consists of five key pillars, these being: accessibility, affordability, accountability, equity as well as quality. The NEP’s overarching focus is the provision of a quality education system to all students, including minorities and those coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. The successful implementation of the policy relies on many factors such as the shift from evaluating students based on mark-based assessments to assessing their advanced skills, e.g. critical thinking and analysis. The policy has set the aim of almost doubling the public expenditure on education, increasing the spending on this sector to a minimum of 6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and approximately 20% of the country’s total budget. The target of increasing public expenditure on education is a shared responsibility between central and state governments. Through the NEP, financial support will be given to crucial areas of school education, such as the provision of nutritional support, learning resources, student safety precautions, equal access, teacher training as well as student support.

Public-Private Partnership in India's School Education
A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) refers to a long-term agreement between a branch of the government and a private entity, in which the central aim is to deliver a good and/or service to the general public. The private entity uses its expertise to carry out government functions (associated with the provision of public goods and services) in return for a prearranged fee. . The actors from both sectors will assent to work cooperatively to fulfill a predetermined need, while exchanging responsibilities, funds, and risks ..

India has experimented with numerous forms of PPPs to increase access to schools and ameliorate the quality of education provided. Government-aided schools are the most common examples of PPPs. In such educational institutions, the private entity is responsible for the cost of land, school infrastructure and employing staff, while the state government is responsible for providing 100% of teacher salaries. Government-aided schools are usually established by local organizations in areas where demand for education is high, but the government is not able to establish them partnerless. Fees in such schools equal government school fees and are typically regulated by state governments. Governments give these schools the ‘aided’ status as they fulfill a local need, and continue providing them with financial aid regardless of student performance and number of students enrolled.

Adarsh schools in the state of Punjab are an existing model of a private-public partnership in India. These schools provide quality education with zero school fees to children living in rural areas. Under this model, private entities are responsible for 30% of operational expenses, while the state government is responsible for the remaining 70%. The state government is also responsible for providing 50% of capital costs.

Schools in Rajasthan are another example of PPP’s in India. In each of Rajasthan’s 33 districts, the state government set up five schools with funds obtained from India’s Infrastructure Project Development. Under this model, the private entity is in charge of the full cost of capital upfront, and Rajasthan’s state government is responsible for the provision of incentives (on installments). A percentage of sponsored students’ current costs is also be provided by the state government, and 50% of enrollments in each school are secured for students sponsored by the government.