India’s education expenditure: Where is the money going?
This year’s Union Budget has allocated the highest amount ever to the education sector – more than 8 percent over last year’s original budget and 13 percent over the revised and reduced figure. But the pressing question is where is the money going?
The good news for education in this year’s Union Budget is the increased allocation of Rs 1,12,898.97 crore. This is the highest amount ever apportioned to this sector and represents an increase of more than 8 percent over last year’s original budget and 13 percent over the revised and reduced figure. From the total of close to Rs 1.13 lakh crore, Rs 68,804.85 crore has been allotted for school education and Rs 44,094.62 crore for higher education.
Shiksha Mantri (Union Educational Minister) Dharmendra Pradhan lauded the Budget for its highest-ever grant to education: “By giving a boost to education, skill development, entrepreneurship, research and development, digital infrastructure, green growth and job creation, the Budget draws a meticulous blueprint for India at 100 and lays a solid foundation for transforming India into a technology-driven knowledge-based economy.”
But the actual money spent by the government on education is much higher as the graphic below, which illustrates the money spent by major Indian states, shows:
In fact, all of India’s 28 states and 9 union territories have an education budget, with yearly spends. In addition, few know that almost every ministry of the central government has its own education budget which in addition to that of the ministry of education.
In fact, it is extremely difficult, if not virtually impossible, to know exactly how much our government actually spends on education in the current year. That is because the expenditure is divided and spread across not only the centre and the states, but across so many ministries and departments. Compilations, which are very laborious, are therefore only available a few years later.
In this 75th year of our independence, when we celebrate Azadi ka Amritmahotsav or the ambrosial time of our freedom, we cannot help wondering, as concerned citizens and taxpayers, why it is so hard to know, let alone understand, how our money is being spent on education. We cannot but help wondering if this obfuscation is deliberate rather than unintentional, designed to obstruct a much closer scrutiny of colossal costs and incommensurate outcomes in this most vital and significant sector of our economy and society.
Before I proceed, I must admit that it would have been impossible even for me to write this analysis despite tracking this sector closely not just for several years, but decades. The reason is simple. The facts and figures, distributed across so many ministries, states, and departments would have been dauntingly difficult to collate, access, and analyse without a huge team and matching resources. Certainly, it is not a task for a single individual, however dedicated, knowledgeable, or smart to undertake on their own.
Luckily, as if in answer to the demand if not prayers of all those who are deeply concerned about Indian education, the Planning, Monitoring and Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Education recently published their Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education, 2017-18 to 2019-20. This 2022 report produced by seven officers and five support staff in the ministry must be lauded for their Herculean achievement in compiling this valuable data.
They trawled through close to 1,000 documents and books of accounts totalling over 80,000 pages to come up with their report. Usually, officials who do such yeoman service to the republic are never named and very readily forgotten. Instead, politicians and top bureaucrats, who are the face of the government, take the credit for whatever policy changes or improvement their work might induce or inspire. But in this article, I would like to give some credit where it is due.
In the last column, we saw how the government’s expenditure on education is by no means confined to the Ministry of Education. Each and every of the 28 states and 9 union territories has an education budget. What is more, even when it comes to the union government, practically every ministry spends on education.
The figures, however, are hard to come by. The reason is simple. The facts and figures, distributed across so many ministries, states, and departments, cannot be found in one place. To access, collate, compile, and analyse them without a huge team and matching resources would be dauntingly difficult. Certainly, it is not a task for a single individual, however dedicated, knowledgeable, or smart to undertake on their own.
That is why, the report titled Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education, 2017-18 to 2019-20 (https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics-new/Analysis_of_Budgeted_Expenditure_on_Education_2018-2020.pdf). Published in 2022, the report is easily available, but few have bothered to pay it a closer look. It the fruit of the enormous efforts of the Planning, Monitoring and Statistics bureau of the Ministry of Education. Produced by seven officers and five support staff in the ministry, this report is essential reading for anyone interested in the Indian government’s spends on education.
They trawled through close to 1000 documents and books of accounts totalling over 80,000 pages to come up with their report. Usually, officials who do such yeoman service to the republic are never named and very readily forgotten. Instead, politicians and top bureaucrats, who are the face of the government, take the credit for whatever policy changes or improvement their work might induce or inspire.
That is why I must depart from tradition to actually name them. Although I will forego listing their designations, I might add that none of them is higher than “Director,” which is below the rank of even the lowest IAS officer in hierarchy. I mention this only to underscore how important the work of lower officialdom in our bureaucracy actually is. Their contribution, which may be the outcome of hard, backbreaking, and grinding labour, is seldom acknowledged.
I must publicly acclaim the efforts of Joseph C F, Archana Shukla, Diksha Sachdeva, Ritesh Patel,Vishal Mani Bhatt, Jai Bhagwan, Devender Kumar, and Ranjan Abhishek, the education ministry officers responsible for the report. They were supported by a technical support group comprising of Pravin Kumar, Shivam Pandey, Esther Jean Dungdung, Sanjeev Kumar, and Vikas Mehta. Higher up in the hierarchy, whoever actually commissioned the report must also be praised.
Now coming to spends across ministries other than and in addition to the ministry of education, how many of us know that the following ministries have considerable allocations mainly on, but not restricted to, primary and secondary education? Ministries of Culture; Defence; Ministry of Personnel, Grievances & Pension; Railways; Social Justice & Empowerment; Textiles; Tribal Affairs; Women & Child Development; and Food Processing. In addition, the Department of Post, Parliament Secretariats of the President and Vice President also spend on education.
When it comes to higher education, the following ministries, in addition to the ministry of education, contribute substantial amounts of money: Agriculture & Farmers Welfare; Civil Aviation; Commerce and Industry; Consumer Affairs; Food & Public Distribution; Cooperate Affairs; N.E. Region Development; Environment, Forest & Climate Change; External Affairs; Home Affairs; Housing and Urban Development; Law & Justice; Road Transport & Highways; Rural Development; Shipping; Statistics & Programme Implementation; Tourism; Jal Shakti; Youth Affairs & Sports; and Finance.
That is not all. The following ministries make major contributions to technical education: AYUSH; Chemicals & Fertilizers; Coal, Ministry of Communication; Earth Sciences; Health & Family Welfare; Information & Broadcasting; Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises; Mines, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy; Petroleum & Natural Gas; Power, Ministry of Science & Technology; Skill Development & Training; Space; Department of Atomic Energy; and Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises. I cannot seem to find a single ministry that does not spend on education.
The figures, in tabular form, are given below:
Source: Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education, 2017-18 to 2019-20 (p. 25)
The budgeted provision on education of some of these ministries, as is evident, from the above table, is immense. The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare spends Rs 8360 crores, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Rs 9055 crores, Ministry of Minority Affairs Rs 2869 crores, Ministry of Science & Technology Rs 12,976 crores, Ministry of Skill Development & Training Rs. 29,226 crores, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment Rs. 14,958 crores, Ministry of Women & Child Development Rs. 20,283 crores, and NITI Ayog Rs 14,958 crores. The grand total for 2019-2020 is Rs. 2,27,080 crores, with the Ministry of Education contributing Rs. 92,733 crores and the other ministries and departments of the union government Rs.1,34,347.
Given that the latter figure exceeds the former by about 150%, it should be obvious that the total amount spent by all the other ministries put together far exceeds that of the Ministry of Education. If we look at the current budget, we will notice that the money allocated to the Education Ministry has gone up from Rs. 92,733 crores to Rs 1,12,898.97 crores. This is an increase of about 22%. If the spends by the other ministries are also considered to have gone up by a similar margin, then what the other ministries will spend will be close to Rs. 1.65 lakh crores. The total of the central government spends will thus be over Rs. 2.75 lakh crores. This does not include what the states have spent.
If we return to the report on Budgeted Expenditure on Education the figures for total expenditure for 2019-2020 on education is a staggering Rs. 8,93,186 or 8.93 lakh crores.
[To be continued]
Makarand R Paranjape is an author, columnist and professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Views are personal. An earlier version of the initial part of this article appeared in FirstPost.