BJP's 25 promises on education: Autonomy, funds will help put new policy in place

BJP's 25 promises on education: Autonomy, funds will help put new policy in place

Sanjay JogUpdated: Saturday, October 19, 2019, 07:04 AM IST
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in a bid to pursue structural reforms in education ranging from schools to universities, has made a record 25 promises in its 'Sankalp Patra' (manifesto) released this week. Of the 25 promises, some of the key promises include providing value-based education to students, scholarships and increased financial aid for students, the launch of a single-window system for hassle-free distribution of scholarships, the establishment of an action group for the implementation of the new national education policy, the setting up of an Industrial Institute of Technology (IIT), an Indian Institute of Management and an All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in the underdeveloped regions of Marathwada, Konkan and North Maharashtra.

Experts say the fulfilment of this slew of promises will only be possible with political will and timely implementation, through proper utilisation of budgetary allocations and in some cases, with the active participation of private sector. The BJP’s timing of these promises comes, coincidentally at a time when its government at the Centre is in the midst of introducing a new national education policy.

Let us see the government’s track record on providing funds for the education sector. It allocated 18% for education in 2018-19, which is higher than the average allocation for this subject by 18 states. In the 2019-20 budget, the government has marginally increased allocation to 18.9%, which is again higher than the average allocation of other states. In the current fiscal, the government has proposed an allocation of Rs 71,307crore against Rs 56,854 crore in 2018-19, of which, Rs 23,147 crore is meant for non-government secondary schools, Rs 7,219 crore for local bodies that run government primary schools and Rs 583 crore for 'Samagra Shiksha'.

Interestingly, the performance of primary school students in Maharashtra has improved and is better than the national average. Students from zilla parishad schools have fared better than their counterparts in private schools, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2018 released in January.

However, the progress of children in the upper primary has not registered much change. As many as 19.8 per cent children of Class 8 could not read a Class 2 text. This means one-fifth of the surveyed children are not ready for higher education. Arithmetic proficiency is worse, the survey found.

Education expert Heramb Kulkarni says the government needs to pay more attention to the quality of education, as students, especially from rural and mofussil areas lack the ability to continue learning after passing their Class 10 exams. The dropout rate is quite high. ‘’In rural and inaccessible areas, there are no facilities for students to opt for affordable higher and technical education but for industrial training institutes. Education for the children of nearly 25 to 30 lakh migrant labour force is not yet fully addressed. Due to the higher rate of child marriage, girls from rural and tribal areas are not in a position to pursue education. The government will have to take concrete steps to tackle these challenges,’’ he notes.

The new government will have to provide more freedom to students in school education, promote new technology and encourage knowledge-based education, instead of information-based education. In addition, skilling should be part of the curriculum, along with basic knowledge.

As far as higher and technical education is concerned, the new government will have rein in political interference, right from the appointment of a vice chancellor to the administration of these institutes. The draft of the new education policy has envisaged the discontinuation of the present affiliation system in higher education by 2030, institutions will become autonomous.

Dr SB Nimse, the former vice chancellor of Lucknow University, suggests that the government, on a priority basis, form an action group for the speedy implementation of the new national education policy and political interference be avoided in the functioning of higher educational institutes. ‘’Higher educational institutes should be provided full autonomy, along with accountability. Adequate powers need to be given to academicians, as it should not be exercised by political bosses,’’ he concludes.

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