Budget: 'Need to invest significantly in higher education, encourage R&D'

By Dr Renu Gulati
India is an young nation. There are about 160 million children below the age of six, and the number will be much more if children of all age groups are taken into account. So, education and physical as well mental well-being of children is the hallmark of a prosperous nation.
No wonder, developed nations spend a large amount of money on child education.India’s spend on education has been about 3.1% of GDP in the last few years.
However, the figure is less compared with developed nations given India’s large population. China spends about 4.4% of GDP on education.
Early education is crucial in a child’s life. So, focus on quality early childhood education (ECE) programme is in the best interest of every young mind.
In India, quality ECE programmes need to value and respect diversity -- cultural, linguistic, cast, religion, gender, class and disability.
Since Independence, our schools have been under-funded, leading to less satisfactory learning outcomes. There is an urgent need to have more primary schools, especially in remote areas, and they should be designed to provide quality education and develop cognitive skills and special talents among children.
Although education is a fundamental right, but a lot of work still needs to be done. For a better quality of life, any nation needs to develop a workforce which is capable of handling all types of jobs.
Whereas the government needs to fund more institutions like ITIs where skill-based education can be given to a large number of youth, at the same time it also needs to invest significantly in higher education, science and technology education and encourage research and development.
It is understandable that government itself may not be able to fund all the projects. That brings in the importance of public-private partnership. It is important that private stakeholders in education are given incentives so that they can promote high-level education.
These incentives can be monetary support to the institutions or tax benefits.
One aspect which we tend to often neglect is emotional and mental well-being of children. The government must step in.
Those responsible for planning the future of our country should be aware that the quality of life and future of the nation will be synonymous with the quality of education, emotional and mental well-being of the children. Therefore, every penny invested for this cause is worth its weight in gold.
(The author Dr Renu Gulati is an associate professor for Human Development and Childhood Studies at Institute of Home Economics, University of Delhi. Views expressed are personal.)