Achieve Universal Primary Education

INTRODUCTION

India is home to 17% of the World’s total population accommodated in an area which is 2.4% of the World’s total area.

As against 2820 languages in the entire world, as many as 325 languages are effectively used in India alone. Local dialects change in India almost after every 8-10 Kms. The country has witnessed phenomenal educational development – both in quantitative and qualitative terms, since independence. However, the national goals of universal elementary education and total eradication of illiteracy have still remained elusive. The Government is committed to achieving these national goals and has been steadily increasing the budgetary allocation for education. The country has also made significant strides in higher and technical education .

India spent 4.02% of its GDP on education during 2001-2002 but about 44% of its adult population still remains to be made literate. Statement-1 compares the population, area, density, literacy rates and level of public expenditure on education in India and some of its neighbouring countries. Afghanistan with 63.75% adult illiterates is at the top, closely followed by Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

Statement-1

POPULATION, AREA, DENSITY, LITERACY & PUBLIC EXPENDITURE IN INDIA
AND SOME NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES.

Particulars

Population
(millions)
(2000)

Area
(Sq. Kms)

Density

Percentage
to world

Percentage of adult illiterate
Population
2000

Public expr. on education as %age of GNP (1996)

 

World

6055.0 *

135604354

45

100

100

20.6

NA

Afghanistan

21.2 #

652090

33

0.48

0.35

63.7

N.A.

Bangladesh

129.2

143998

897

0.11

2.13

59.2

2.2

China

1277.6

9596961

133

7.08

21.10

15.0

2.3

India

1027 $

3287590

312

2.42

16.96

44.2

3.2

Indonesia

212.1

1904569

111

1.40

3.50

13.0

1.4

Japan

126.9

377801

336

0.28

2.10

NA

3.6

Myanmar

46.4

676578

69

0.50

0.77

15.3

1.2 &

Nepal

22.5 #

140797

160

0.10

0.37

58.6

3.2 @

Pakistan

156.5

796095

197

0.59

2.58

56.7

2.7 @

Sri Lanka

18.8 #

65610

286

0.05

0.31

8.4

3.4

Thailand

62.0 #

513115

121

0.38

1.02

4.4

4.8

SOURCE: Statistical Yearbook, 1999 UNESCO
* Estimated population for 2000, # Reference year 1999, $ Reference year 2001
& Reference year 1994, @ Reference year 1997
Note: The area figures of India exclude area under illegal occupation of Pakistan and China.

2. Expenditure on Education:

2.1 Public expenditure on education:

Statement-2 shows the public expenditure on education in India during the period 1951-52 to 2001-2002. The expenditure on the education sector was slightly less than 1% of the GDP in 1951-52. The percentage expenditure to GDP shows an irregular rise and fall. It rose to 2.33% in 1972-73 but in 1973-74 declined to 2.15%. It increased to 3.07% in 1979-80 and decreased to 2.83% in 1981-82. Continuing to rise and fall slightly, it has reached a level of 4.02% in 2001-2002. Similarly, the percentage of expenditure on education and training to total expenditure of all sectors during the last five decades indicates that it has increased from 7.92% in 1951-52 to 13.17% in 2001-2002 i.e. by 5.25 percentage points during the last five decades. This translates to an annual average growth of 0.11% during the period 1951-52 to 2001-2002.

Public Expenditure on Education in India (In crore)

Year

Govt. expenditure on education (Trg. & Rev) by education and other Deptts. (center+state)

Total Govt. expenditure on all sectors (Rev)

GDP at current prices(at factor cost) base year 1993-94

% of Expenditure on Education to Expenditure on all sectors

% of Education Expenditure to GDP

1951-52

64.46

814.13

10080

7.92

0.64

1952-53

72.26

857.67

9941

8.43

0.73

1953-54

80.06

908.20

10824

8.82

0.74

1954-55

95.82

973.74

10168

9.84

0.94

1955-56

118.39

1111.26

10332

10.65

1.15

1956-57

132.88

1158.01

12334

11.47

1.08

1957-58

150.26

1416.62

12610

10.61

1.19

1958-59

173.78

1594.36

14106

10.90

1.23

1959-60

207.59

1770.06

14816

11.73

1.40

1960-61

239.56

1997.93

16220

11.99

1.48

1961-62

260.30

2225.40

17116

11.70

1.52

1962-63

278.76

2942.67

18302

9.47

1.52

1963-64

313.93

3488.97

20916

9.00

1.50

1964-65

369.29

3844.91

24436

9.60

1.51

1965-66

432.61

4404.82

25586

9.82

1.69

1966-67

487.83

5100.24

29123

9.56

1.68

1967-68

593.14

5619.77

34225

10.55

1.73

1968-69

649.13

6922.07

36092

9.38

1.80

1969-70

760.23

7908.07

39691

9.61

1.92

1970-71

892.36

8787.12

42222

10.16

2.11

1971-72

1011.07

10610.89

44923

9.53

2.25

1972-73

1150.43

11863.56

49415

9.70

2.33

1973-74

1300.72

12884.48

60560

10.10

2.15

1974-75

1570.67

14625.03

71283

10.74

2.20

1975-76

1849.47

17958.99

75709

10.30

2.44

1976-77

2039.09

20482.83

81381

9.96

2.51

1977-78

2630.60

22666.31

92881

11.61

2.83

1978-79

2994.69

26134.84

99823

11.46

3.00

1979-80

3347.57

30915.39

108927

10.83

3.07

1980-81

3884.20

36398.39

130178

10.67

2.98

1981-82

4435.29

33667.31

152056

13.17

2.92

1982-83

5509.17

43996.18

169525

12.52

3.25

1983-84

6229.53

61889.25

198630

10.07

3.14

1984-85

7455.88

69025.45

222705

10.80

3.35

1985-86

8713.02

67091.41

249547

12.99

3.49

1986-87

9479.13

80454.66

278258

11.78

3.41

1987-88

11798.35

92518.38

315993

12.75

3.73

1988-89

14069.82

107543.75

378491

13.08

3.72

1989-90

17192.50

126045.97

438020

13.64

3.93

1990-91

19615.85

146711.53

510954

13.37

3.84

1991-92

22393.69

170370.38

589086

13.14

3.80

1992-93

25030.30

190327.45

673221

13.15

3.72

1993-94

28279.69

218535.15

781345

12.94

3.62

1994-95

32606.22

251691.92

917058

12.95

3.56

1995-96

38178.09

286194.55

1073271

13.34

3.56

1996-97

43896.48

329389.92

1243546

13.33

3.53

1997-98

48552.14

380728.45

1390148

12.75

3.49

1998-99

61578.91

439768.11

1598127

14.00

3.85

1999-2000

74816.09

512519.33

1761932

14.60

4.25

2000-2001

82486.43

572160.14

1917724P

14.42

4.30

2001-2002

84179.46(R.E)

639048.06

2094013Q

13.17

4.02

2.2 Expenditure By Level of Education :

Table-1 gives the details of expenditures by level of education in India and its percentage to GDP and total Government expenditure on all sectors during the period 1990-91 to 2001-2002. The expenditure on elementary education was 1.78% to the GDP in 1990-91. The percentage expenditure on elementary to GDP shows a gradual fall to 1.65% in 1994-95 and than shows a gradual rise to 2.02% in 2001-02. The percentage expenditure to GDP on secondary/higher secondary shows an irregular rise and fall and it has remained between 1.13 to 1.44 percent during 1997- 98 to 1999-2000. The percentage expenditure to GDP on Adult Education was 0.05% during 1990-91 showing a gradual decrease to 0.01% in 2000-2001. It improved slightly to 0.02% during 2001-2002. The percentage expenditure on University and Higher Education to GDP, which was 0.77 % in 1990-91 shows a gradual decrease to 0.62% during 1997-98 and rises to 0.88% in 2000-2001.

The share of expenditure on Elementary Education to total expenditure on all sectors was 6.19% during 1990-91 and which shows irregular rise and fall and finally settled at 6.61% during 2001-2002. The share of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education to total expenditure on all sectors was highest in 1999-2000 i.e. 4.97% and the lowest (4.09%) during 2001-2002. The share of adult expenditure in total expenditure on all sectors was highest in 1990-91 (0.19%) and shows a gradual decreasing trend to 0.05% in 2001-02. The percentage share of higher education to total expenditure remained between 2.32% to 2.96% in the last decade.

2.3 Budgeted expenditure (Revenue Account) on Education

The per capita budgeted expenditure during 2001-02 was highest in Lakshwadweep (Rs.3439.11) followed by Sikkim (Rs.2435.98), A&N Islands (Rs.2371.23) and lowest in Bihar (Rs.386.45) followed by Uttar Pradesh (Rs.465.20) and Orissa (Rs.500.39). The percentage of Budgeted expenditure on education to the total State Budget was highest in Assam (31.36%) followed by Madhya Pradesh (30.18%) and Maharashtra (25.88%). The details may be seen in Table-2.

3. Educational Institutions:

There has been a considerable increase in the spread of educational institutions during the period 1950-51 and 2001-2002. This is evident from Statement-3. During this period the number of Primary Schools increased by 3 times, while the Upper Primary Schools and Hr. Secondary Schools increased by 16 and 18 times respectively. The number of Colleges for general education and professional education increased by about 24 and 12 times respectively while the number of Universities increased by 10 times during the period. The state wise details of all the recognised institutions in 2001-2002 are given in Table-3.

Statement-3

GROWTH OF RECOGNISED EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS FROM 1950-51 TO 2001-2002

Years

Primary

Upper Primary

High/Hr. Sec/ Inter /Pre. Jr. Colleges

Colleges for General Education

Colleges for Professional Education (Engg., Tech., Arch., Medical & Education colleges)

Universities/
Deemed Univ../ Instt.
of National Importance

1950-51

209671

13596

7416

370

208

27

1955-56

278135

21730

10838

466

218

31

1960-61

330399

49663

17329

967

852

45

1965-66

391064

75798

27614

1536

770

64

1970-71

408378

90621

37051

2285

992

82

1975-76

454270

106571

43054

3667

** 3276

101

1980-81

494503

118555