How Govt Policy is Impairing Public Education

Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started leading the Union government in 2014, the trends toward privatisation, commercialisation, marginalisation and saffronisation have intensified. The themes that this article examines include public funding for education, pensions of teachers and employees, increasing role of private higher education and social exclusion in education of teachers and students.

The empirical findings cited rely on the Union Budget documents pertaining to the years 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 and the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for 2013-14 and 2021-22. The school education data is examined using Budget data as well as reports of the District Information System for Education.  The source of budget data on pensions is the Ministry of Finance for the two periods of 2005-2006 to 2007-2008 and 2019-20 to 2021-22, to examine a declining budget for pensions by the Central government.

Decline in Public Funding for Education

The BJP-led Union government’s drive for privatisation and commercialisation of education involves deep cuts in public funding for education.

Figure 1 shows a declining trend of Budget expenditure of Ministry of Education from approximately 4% in 2013-14 to less than 2% in 2024-25. Moreover, there is a tendency for revised estimates of public expenditure on education to less than the Budget estimates (BE) reflecting a gap between reality and promise in this regard.

Source. PRS legislative research group report 2024-25.

As far as the higher education sector is concerned, the revised estimate (RE) was Rs. 57,245 crore in 2023-24, which declined by 17% (Rs. 9,625 crore) to Rs. 47,620 crore in 2024-25. The breakup of this decline in public expenditure among different segments of higher education needs to be examined.

The UGC (University Grants Commission) budget meant for general education has sharply declined by 61% from Rs. 6,409 crore, as per the RE in 2023-24 to Rs. 2,500 crore BE in 2024-25.

The budget allocation for the All-India Council for Technical Education, meant for technical and professional education, has stagnated at Rs. 400 crore in these years, which amounts to a real decline, taking into account an average annual rate of inflation of 5%.

The Grants to Central Universities (CUs) ostensibly increased by 29% in nominal terms from Rs. 12,000 crore to Rs. 15,472 crore over these years, but this has principally involved changes in two heads: (i) additional transfer to the Madhyamik and Uchchatar Shiksha Kosh (MUSK) and (ii) loans to higher educational institutions.

The MUSK amount has not been apportioned to any scheme for education in 2023-24. MUSK is a non-lapsable fund in which proceeds of secondary and higher education cess are credited, to be utilised for schemes in secondary and higher education.

In 2024-25, the MUSK budget was Rs. 5,000 crore reflected as a part of grants to Central universities, and if we add the Higher Education Finance Agency (HEFA) loans allocation of Rs. 372 crore, then this amounts to Rs. 5,372 crore. Therefore, the grants allocated to Central Universities net of MUSK and HEFA, declined by 16% to Rs. 10,100 crore in nominal terms during 2024-25 in comparison to 2023-24.

The HEFA loans category in the Union Budget is specified under two heads: (i) interest payment under HEFA and (ii)  principal repayment amount under HEFA. Allocation under both these heads have increased. To begin with, the Budget allocation toward interest for past loans under HEFA has increased moderately from Rs. 82 crore to Rs. 84 crore, while the principal loan amount under HEFA increased from Rs. 312 crore to Rs. 372 crore over these years. 

The fund allocation to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) moderately increased in nominal terms from Rs. 9,292 crore to Rs. 9,635 crore over these years but declined in real terms, taking into account an annual rate of inflation of 5%.

The MUSK grant was Rs. 2,643 crore. The HEFA interest and principal amounts as regards IITs has remained fairly unchanged at Rs. 270 crore and Rs. 300 crore, respectively, over these years. The actual Budget amounts under these two heads of HEFA loans for IITs were Rs. 209 crore and Rs. 248 crore in 2022-23. Like elsewhere, the aim is to move away from public funding to increasing fees for students to repay the HEFA loans with deleterious consequences for educational access for the working people and also amounts to a de facto nullification of reservation.

The MUSK and HEFA components also figure significantly in the allocation for two other professional education institutions, namely, Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs). The MUSK Budget allocation to NITs was Rs. 4,500 crore during 2024-25. The allocations for repayment of principal of HEFA loans for IIMs during 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 are Rs. 280 crore, Rs. 255 crore and Rs. 140 crore, respectively.

The respective allocations for NITs are Rs. 88 crore, Rs. 100 crore and Rs.120 crore, respectively. The allocation for interest of HEFA loans for IIMs are as follows: Rs. 38 crore in 2022-23, Rs. 60 crore in 2023-24 and 2024-25. The allocation for interest on HEFA loans for NITs are Rs. 35 crore, Rs.41 crore and Rs. 81 crore, respectively, during these three years.  

Thus, there is a declining trend of public funding in higher education institutions and diversion of funds toward either loans or MUSK (not used by the institutions).

Decline in Budget Allocation for Pensions

A significant limitation of the education sector and the public sector more broadly is the absence of a defined benefit pension system. Consequently, teachers and employees tend to be distracted from public service due to concerns over post-retirement livelihood.

According to Finance Ministry data, in 2019-20, the total funds allocated for pensions was Rs. 49,767 crore, it increased to Rs. 62,677 crore in 2020-21, but declined to Rs. 56,473 crore in 2021-22. The budget allocated for pensions was Rs. 62,567 crore in 2005-06, which increased to Rs.70,352 crore in 2006-07 and further rose to Rs.73,076 crore in 2007-08 during the tenure of the first United Progressive Alliance government. Between 2007-08 and 2021-22, there has been a sharp decline of 23% (Rs. 16,603 crore), largely engineered by the current ruling dispensation.

This sharp decline in allocations for pensions is associated with the transition from the defined benefit old pension scheme (OPS) toward the vastly inferior (in terms of welfare) defined contribution National Pension System (NPS).

Faced with strong protests from teachers and employees, the ruling dispensation has come up with an ostensible hybrid between OPS and NPS, known as the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), but only for employees. But in reality, the UPS is a defined contribution scheme masquerading as a defined benefit scheme.

Barring a paltry sum, the entire corpus of service life contributions of employees will be retained by the government (unlike in the case in OPS). Further, any in service withdrawal from the corpus will reduce the pension payout to employees under UPS. All this when the quantum of the monthly contribution under UPS is significantly higher than under OPS.

Universities and Colleges: Increasing Private Role

As per AISHE 2021-22, the total number of universities in India (including university-level Institutions) was 1,168, out of which 53 were Central universities, 423 were state public universities and 391 were state private universities, institutes of national importance stood at 153, deemed private universities at 81, deemed public universities at 33, and 16 were state open universities, six were institutes set up under Acts of state legislatures, state open and Central open universities were one each.

Thus, the share of state private and deemed private universities in the total number of universities during 2021-22 was 40%, which amounts to a significant increase from 32% in 2013-14. In other words, the number of private universities of various types grew disproportionately under the current ruling dispensation. 

The total number of colleges in India increased from 36,634 in 2013-14 to 42,825 in 2021-22, which implies an increase of 6,191. But out of this increase 5,976 were new private colleges while a mere 215 new public colleges were established. In other words, the orientation of the higher education policy of the ruling dispensation is to favour private higher education at the expense of public higher education.

Teachers: Persistence of Social Exclusion

The total number of teachers in India during 2021-22 was 15,97,688. Out of these, 56.6% are male teachers while 43.4% are female teachers, reflecting a gender skew that is to the detriment of female teachers. Out of this number merely 89,770 (5.6%) are Muslims, while 1,40,205 (8.8%) belong to other minority communities. This communal skew in the composition of teachers is reflective of broader social trends toward saffronisation.

The combined share of SC, ST and OBC (Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes) teachers was only 44% in 2021-22 ,which is well below their share of the population. In other words, the trend towards saffronisation of education is to the detriment of the overwhelming majority of the population. 

This saffronisation trend serves to also camouflage another trend: the increase in the number of teachers over the eight-year period (2013-14- 2021-22) was merely 17%  (23,0153) which amounted to a paltry annual increase of 2%. It is arguable that the persistence of social exclusion among teachers, declining Union Budget allocation to higher education and deceleration in the rate of increase of the total number of teachers are three parts of the same phenomenon.

Social Distribution of Student Enrolment

During 2021-22, the total estimated student enrolment in higher education institutions was 4,32,68,181, out of which 96,38,345 were in universities and its constituent units, 3,14,59,092 were in colleges, and 21,70,744 were in stand-alone institutions, implying that 73% of the enrolment was in colleges.

The total number and share of SC student enrolment is 66,22,923 (15.3%) of the total enrolment. ST student enrolment is 27,10,678, which is 6.3 % of the total enrolment. For OBCs, enrolment is 1,63,36,460 (37.8% of the total enrolment). The combined share of SC, ST and OBC students in total enrolment is well below their total share in the population.

Out of total estimated enrolment, 30,13,192 students belong to the minority communities, of which 14,96,191 are male students and 15,17,001 are female students. Out of total enrolment of students from minority communities, 21,08,033 students are Muslims (4.9%) while 9,05,159 are from other minority communities. 

In the AISHE 2021-22, the share of Muslim students in Indian higher education is not given, it is calculated by us from the same data source, Evidently, this share which is merely 4.9%, is far below their share of population.

In the case of student enrolment, too, the trend under saffronisation amounts to deprivation for the overwhelming majority of the population.

School Education:  Budget and Student Enrolment

The BE for school education is Rs. 73,008 crore during 2024-25, a mere 0.74% increase over Rs. 72,474 crore RE for 2023-24.

The budget support for Samagra Shiksha over the three years -- 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 -- was Rs. 32,515 crore, Rs. 33,000 crore and Rs. 37,500 crore, respectively, which implies virtual stagnation in real terms. The respective allocation for Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN – the renamed Mid-day Meal scheme) in these years is Rs.12,681 crore, Rs. 10,000 crore and Rs.12,467 crore which implies a decline in nominal terms too.

The number of students enrolled in school education from primary to secondary education declined from 25,17,91,722 in 2022-23 to 24,80,45,828 in 2023-24. This decline by 37,45,894 gives a lie to the tall claims about India becoming a knowledge superpower, as the reality involves squeezing public resources for education.

The shares of boys and girls remained same at 52% and 48%, respectively, over both the years, which demonstrates the persistence of the gender gap. The percentage shares of SC, ST and OBC students were 18%, 10% and 46%, respectively, during 2022-23 and respective shares in 2023-24 were 18%, 10% and 45%. This not only reflects a decline in the share of OBCs in student enrolment but also that the combined share of SC, ST and OBC in student enrolment was below their share of population. Further this combined share of SC, ST and OBC is lower in higher education when compared to school education, which is indicative of a disproportionate drop-out rate.

The share of students enrolled in private schools was 33% in 2022-23 but increased to 36% in 2023-24, which indicates an expansion of privatisation in school education, too, whereby share of students enrolled in government schools declined from 54% to 51% over this period. The rest are in aided schools.

Conclusion

This article examines some aspects of how the policies of the ruling dispensation are undermining public higher education. When faced with protests and especially prior to elections, the current ruling dispensation engages in charades. For instance, it announced that the Union government has decided to constitute the Eighth Pay Commission for employees but there is no cabinet decision to this effect till now. Further, there is no decision about constituting the Eighth Pay Review for teachers but the UGC has come out with the Draft Regulations and Guidelines.

These moves against public higher education demonstrate that resistance on the part of teachers, students and employees has become essential. That resistance has to begin with not only public protests by teachers, students and employees but also voting out the collaborators and enablers of this process of ongoing destruction of public higher education in their midst.

Narender Thakur is Professor, Department of Economics, Dr. BR Ambedkar College, University of Delhi. C. Saratchand is professor, Department of Economics, Satyawati College, University of Delhi. The views are personal.