The former vice-chancellor of Anna University E. Balagurusamy has urged the Union government to allocate more fund to education to enhance the quality of education and research in India.
Lauding the objectives of the National Education Policy 2020, he stated, “The goal of doubling Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) from the current 26.3% to 50% by 2035 implies doubling the capacity of higher education in the country. This necessitates a huge increase in investment from both the Central and State governments.”
In an appeal to the Union Finance Minister, which he shared with the media, he said, “While the spirit of NEP is in the right direction, without additional fund allocation, it is practically an impossible task to implement its recommendations across the country. Innovation and research capability of an institution depends on the quality of faculty and research facilities which also requires funding.”
Stating that it has been more than three years since NEP was announced, Prof. Balagurusamy said, “The current spending on education is about 3.1% of Gross domestic product (GDP) and on research and development 0.69% of GDP which is low compared to other countries when the NEP has promised an allocation of 6% of GDP for education and 2% of GDP for research.”
Prof. Balagurusamy said that in the last few years, spending on education remained stagnant at 10.5% of the total government budget and it only marginally increased from 2.8% to 3.1% of GDP. “Budgetary allocations should be increased… A well- defined framework for interoperability of various central ministries, regulatory bodies, State governments and industries must be in place for effective implementation of NEP. The structural, operational and financial commitments of this framework must be detailed in the budget allocations,” he said.
