Oxfam India, a non-governmental organisation in New Delhi, released its annual inequality survey on the first day of the World Economic Forum’s online Davos Agenda summit on wealth inequality in India.
Wealth Inequality And Education
It also consists of a report on education inequality, which states that a 1% tax on the wealth of the 98 billionaires in India can fund the total annual expenditure of the department of school education and literacy under the Ministry of Education.
On the other hand, the wealth of the 10 richest people is enough to fund school and higher education for children in the country for 25 years.
Education Becoming Inaccessible
If we look at the current status of higher education and the changing dynamics of government colleges, the irony of the situation becomes apparent.
Institutions are continuously increasing fees, as we saw recently in the case of Jawaharlal Lal Nehru (JNU) college.
Much to the student’s dismay, with the increasing fees, the number of seats available in the colleges for pursuing higher education has decreased. MPhil programs, which were a bridging research program between MA and PhD, have also been removed.
These changes in the education sector, along with budget cuts for the UGC, are forcing institutions to become autonomous, making higher education more difficult and inaccessible for students.
The survey shows the polarity in the economic wealth of India. It is limited to the pockets of a few.
The Education Budget
However, the budget 2022–23 also didn’t bring much for the education sector. Where the pandemic has already affected offline teaching and one to one interaction with teachers, the budgetary allocation for teacher training and adult education has drastically reduced from ₹250 crore in 2021–22 to ₹127 crore in 2022–23.
Anil Swaroop, former secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of India, said to The Indian Express, “The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was launched last year with a huge fanfare. It advocated that 6% of GDP should be allocated to the education sector. But this year’s budget comes down to less than 2%.
“The education budget may have crossed a landmark of 1 lakh crore, but it has been decreasing as a percentage of total expenditure.”
Budget 2022–23 introduced digital universities and education channels under the eVidya program, but is it sufficient?
Making something available will not be helpful if it won’t be reachable. There are many areas in India that still lack internet connection and other technological advancements.
The government needs to tackle the problem of availability. It also needs to tackle economic problems first that are hindering the education system for all.