The Union Budget’s outlays on education have gone up by more than 300 percent since 2005-06, but is the money being spent? And spent well? Where is higher and vocational education headed?

By Anand Agarwal, Elets News Network (ENN)

In the Budget for 2012-13, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has increased the total outlay for the education sector to Rs 61,427 crore – an increase of more than 17 percent over last year’s allocation. The largest increase has been in the outlay for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan – the flagship programme for Universalisation of Elementary Education. Adoption of technology in education has also been given a big boos by making an outlay of Rs 765 crore for procurement of Aakash tablets, 50 lakh of which the Ministry of Human Resource Development wants to give away to students for free.  The Budget also looks to leverage ICT for improving the country’s knowledge delivery system by making an outlay of Rs 360 crore towards the National Knowledge Network that will connect educational institutions across the country and enable students in smaller institutions to access lectures by faculty in elite institutions. An interest subsidy scheme for students with limited financial ability would also promote access to higher education. Overall, all sectors have seen healthy increases in outlays, and if money is a measure of intent, the government has demonstrated its commitment towards the education sector in ample measure.

However, the problem lies more in the quality of spending. In solving problems, the focus has to be on results and not primarily on the money being spent on the problem. In spite of impressive increases in absolute expenditure, there is vast scope for improvement in quality of learning available to a majority of Indian students. A recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study – Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – placed Indian students above only Kyrgyzstan in a 74-nation survey of math and reading skills. Although the PISA covered only the states of Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, a far more comprehensive survey – Pratham’s Annual State of the Education Report (ASER) paints a similar picture.

As per the latest ASER, while the goal of universal enrolment has almost been achieved, with over 95 percent kids enrolled in schools, there are far bigger issues to worry about. Attendance of students is falling, learning quality – as measured by basic math and reading skills – has shown a decline from the previous survey in most states, and in spite of the Right to Education Act wanting to shut down unrecognised private schools, enrolment in such schools is rising – a reflection perhaps of the lack of trust that parents have in state-run schools. A recent study jointly conducted by India Institute and the Newcastle University (United Kingdom), covering nearly 1,500 schools in Bihar capital Patna found that 65 percent of all students in the city were enrolled in private schools, as against the national average of 20 percent. What is more, the attendance and learning outcomes in these schools were found to be better than at government-run schools, which comprised around 20 percent of the 1,500 schools surveyed.

Analysing the SSA Expenses

PAISA (Planning, Allocations and Expenditures, Institutions: Studies in Accountability), a joint initiative of Accountability Initiative, Pratham and the National Institute of Public Finance Policy tracks government spending in the social sector. The latest PAISA report (for 2011, released March 20, 2012) says that while nationally, per child allocation under the SSA has more than doubled from Rs 2,004 in 2009-10 to Rs 4,269 in 2011-12, with state-level variations, there are issues of concern. The study notes that the largest share of SSA budget goes to teachers (salaries, training and teaching inputs such as Teacher Learning Equipment). In 2011-12, teachers accounted for 44% of the budget, with some states spending as much as 72 percent of the SSA outlay on teachers! School infrastructure was the second biggest component at 36 percent, while expenses on children were only 10 percent of the total SSA outlay.

In order to establish the correlation between outlays and outcomes, PAISA 2011 studied per child expenditure data for 2009-10 and compared it to the ASER learning level data for 2010. The report claims there is a positive correlation between per-child expenses and learning outcomes, but admits that its study is very rudimentary and needs further analysis. More interesting is perhaps the fact that the PAISA does not find any correlation between the expenditure incurred on teachers and the learning attainment of the children, in spite of such high proportion of expenses being made on teachers.

A Crisis in Higher and Vocational Education

The India Labour Report  2012, jointly developed by TeamLease and the Indian Institute of Job Training (IIJT) presents some stark data – 374 districts in India have a gross enrolment ratio (GER) less than the national average – a figure which is itself around 50 percent of the world average. 58 percent of Indian college graduates have some degree of unemployability and lack formal on-the-job exposure. The economic reforms of 1991 have not had much impact on the composition of the labour market and three important indicators (proportion of labour force in informal sector, share of manufacturing in total employment and share of the self-employed among all workers) remain at 1991 levels. Informal sector still employs around 92 percent of the workforce, manufacturing still contributes only around 12 percent of all employment and the self-employed still constitute nearly half the total working population.

A recent report says India would overtake China and emerge as the world’s leading economy by 2050, by when it would have a GDP of around USD 86 trillion. The demographic dividend theory says India would have an expanding labour force at least till 2026, which should translate into economic gains for the country by way of increased productivity. But the moot question is: have we made the investments required to reap these dividends? As the India Labour Report notes, “1 million people join the labour force every month for the next twenty years without adequate training. 80 percent of India’s higher education system of 2030 is yet to be built and needs breaking the difficult trinity of cost, quality and scale. It needs massive innovation, investment, deregulation and competition.”

This data signals a growing crisis, and the government has shown signs of taking steps for addressing these. The establishment of the National Skill Development Corporation as a Public Private Partnership (PPP), the Prime Minister’s Skill Development Council, and efforts by the HRD ministry to integrate vocational education with ‘mainstream’ education, providing for both vertical and horizontal mobility between the two streams are some noteworthy initiatives. The government is also running a number of skill enhancement schemes through which it hopes to address the issue of skills deficit. The Rural Self Employment Training Institute (R-SETI) is one of the larger schemes for skill training. Modelled on the lines of the Lead Bank concept for priority sector lending, PSU banks have been asked to adopt districts and open skill training centres that would impart not only job training but also offer business advisory and handholding as well as soft loans to Self Help Groups and the rural unemployed youth. While some centres have started operating, it is still too early to comment on their success or otherwise.

Outlook Ahead

Overall, while there have been a number of welcome policy initiatives in the education sector and the level of finances available has also increased substantially, empirical evidence points to the need for an urgent rethink on some aspects of current policy, particularly building in a component of quality monitoring into programmes such as the SSA and the RMSA, and adoption of innovative models in the field of higher and vocational education so that the burgeoning youth of the country can be harnessed as an economic asset.

Pankaj Chandra, Director, IIM-B Joins MindTree’s Board of Directors

Professor Pankaj Chandra, Director, IIM Banglore has joined MindTree Limited’s Board of Directors with effect from March 19, 2012.

Speaking on his appointment, Professor Pankaj Chandra said, “It is an honor to be part of team MindTree, one of the most admired companies in the industry. I have been following MindTree for some time and have been impressed with the Company’s remarkable growth rate. I look forward to helping MindTree achieve profitable and sustained growth across a global footprint.”

St Xavier’s Group of Schools Opt for digitisation

Mexus Education has partnered with St. Xavier’s Group of Schools in Uttar Pradesh to complement the learning environment and philosophy of the group. These schools have opted for technology integration to further leverage the creativity of students by creating a complete learning environment. This partnership would complement the learning system that offers adequate opportunity to every learner to avail quality education transcending textbook education.

All the 45 schools of the group spread over Varanasi, Allahabad, Lucknow and other areas in Uttar Pradesh have opted for digitisation through partnership with Mexus. These schools have opted for complete school solutions including Iken Library for a digital classroom, Iken Evaluate for remote-based objective test, Iken Learning Labs to introduce hands-on conceptual understanding. This partnership would build upon the learning standards by supporting teachers to teach the concepts in the classroom with the help of interesting animations, videos, real-life concept applications that enhance involvement of students in the lessons.

Inopen Technologies,GurujiWorld join hands to Create Digital Content

Inopen Technologies has entered into an alliance with GurujiWorld to provide digital content at schools that will offer Inopen and GurujiWorld capacity building opportunities in the space of Computer Education & IT Literacy. Both the companies intend to create a Joint Venture as well as consortiums which will feature products and services from both the companies as agreed in the MoU. They would together work on “Opportunities in the field of Computer Literacy, K12 Education and Technology Based training in ICT and training projects”. The venture will be equally owned by both companies. They will strive to excel and come out with the best in the field of Education Delivery through Technology servicing the Computer Education training needs of various School boards and Government departments.

The JV Company that GurujiWorld and InOpen will create, will work aggressively towards standardisation of the IT Literacy curricula in various Schools boards and Government departments. InOpen with IIT Bombay will be providing the academic support and GurujiWorld will be providing its technology support to create innovative lightweight digital contents for new delivery platforms like Tabs/Web/Mobile/iPads, etc.

ComGuard Focuses on Education Market in India

ComGuard, a part of Spectrum Group, Dubai, and value added distributor (VAD) of networking and security products across Middle East and Africa, has announced its entry into the Indian market.

As most of the sectors are performing well in India, the market opportunity for IT security and networking is really huge, which can go up to multi billion dollars but there is a paucity of VADs to address the whole market, therefore there is a natural gap. To start with ComGuard will focus on enterprises and education markets and introduce global brands for networking and security products to cater to this market.

SMART Technologies Launch Professional development Program for Teachers

SMART Technologies has launched the SMART Professional Development Program for Teachers – India. The program was unveiled by Linda Thomas, Vice President, Products, for SMART Technologies and is focused on addressing the need for training teachers in the use of interactive educational technology tools. The aim of the program is to help educators acquire technology skills enabling them to actively integrate digital learning tools in their teaching process for improved learning outcomes. The company aims to train up to 8,000 teachers in 15 major cities across India in the first wave of the program.

Under the SMART Professional Development Program for Teachers – India, SMART Technologies’ team of Education Consultants will conduct a series of workshops across 15 major cities in India in order to prepare teachers in the use of technology tools including the industry-leading SMART Notebook collaborative learning software. Over six million teachers have activated SMART Notebook software to create and deliver engaging lessons for more than 40 million students in 175 countries around the world. The award-winning software enables educators to bring course material alive for learners with the aid of various interactive tools, videos, images and activities allowing lessons to be highly engaging and dynamic for students. The training sessions will be offered to teachers at no cost.

Kulbhushan Seth, Head (Sales and Marketing), Casio India, talks to Pragya Gupta about innovations in Projector technologies

Kulbhushan Seth
Head (Sales and Marketing), Casio India

How much does education sector contribute to your projector business in terms of revenues?

Education market has already been covered by the projector wave. Projectors are one of the fastest growing product lines in India thanks to the booming education market. Changing lifestyles, decrease in price and growing spending on electronics has led to an upsurge in demand for high-end products including projectors. The market in India is expected to grow at around 30 percent. There are also various emerging segments, which are booming with demand for projectors. Currently education contributes around 40 percent in Casio Projector’s business in India. We have sold 2000+ units to education segment.

What factors drive the Projector market in India? What is the scope for its growth in the education space?

Education segment are the main force that drive projector sales. Education market contributes nearly 40 percent of the unit sales due to the increased competition among schools to adopt state-of-the-art technologies. Besides, the government is investing in a big way in Projects like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and ICT@Schools that envisage having at least one multi-media lab in each school fully equipped with state of art technological products like Projectors, Audio Visual etc.

Tell us about the major competitors you have in the education space?

Casio has continued to evolve its lamp-free technology during the last two years to meet growing market demands, thus producing brightness output that is unmatched by competitive offerings. We believe Casio’s lineup of projectors are quickly becoming the preferred solution across all industries including corporate, government, higher education, digital signage and rental.  The total cost of ownership is reduced based on the lamp-free technology; combine this technology with high brightness and quick response these projectors become the go-to product for any industry looking to reduce cost.

What is the difference between DLP, 3LCD and LED technology in projectors? Please mention Pros and cons of each for education vertical?

LCD projector uses Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) light gates. This is one of the most common and affordable systems, mostly used for home theatres and businesses. Its most common problem is a visible “screen door” or pixilation effect, although recent advances have to a large extent led to mitigation of this problem.

DLP projectors use DLP technology. This uses one, two, or three microfabricated light valves called digital micromirror devices (DMDs). The single- and double-DMD versions use rotating colour wheels in time with the mirror refreshes to modulate colour. The most common problem with the single- or two-DMD varieties is a visible “rainbow,” which some people perceive when moving their eyes.

Education being the highest contributor and user of the Projectors today worldwide, should use LED based Eco-friendly Green Projectors due to operating without conventional mercury lamps, which give Long Life Light source with a life time of up to 20,000 hours.

How do you see the role of phones with projectors in education?

The new Mobi Show app makes it possible to link mobile phones and tablet PCs directly to the projector via WLAN. Presentations and teaching materials can thus be prepared on a computer and then presented from your mobile device whenever desired.

The Mobi Show app enables presentations without a computer. Leave your laptop home and make your presentation from your mobile device. Select Casio models will project from iPhone, Android, iPad, iPod and Microsoft Windows Mobile, via a WiFi 802.11b/g/n connection. Software is required and included with select Casio USB models. Device Application is also required and available by free download with select Casio USB models.

Govt Announces Interest Subsidy on Education Loan

Ministry of Human Resource Development has formulated an Interest Subsidy Scheme to provide full interest subsidy during the period of moratorium on educational loans taken by students belonging to economically weaker sections. It can be availed from scheduled banks under the Model Educational Loan Scheme of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for pursuing any of the approved courses of studies in technical and professional streams from recognized institutions in India. Students with parental income less than Rs 4.5 lakhs per annum and enrolled in recognised technical & professional courses, after class twelfth, in India are eligible under the scheme. Educational loans of such students disbursed from 1st April 2009, irrespective of date of sanction are eligible for interest subsidy.

World Bank Approves US$500 Mn credit to Education Project

The World Bank has approved a US$500 million credit to the Secondary Education Project to finance the Government of India’s efforts to make good quality education available, accessible and affordable to all young persons at the secondary level (grades IX and X).

The Project will support all activities as envisioned in the US$12.9 billion Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) programme, a flagship Government of India programme for gradual universalisation of secondary education.

The government has made great strides in the area of elementary education over the past ten years. Net elementary enrollment rate stands at 96 percent and girls are almost equally represented in elementary education as boys. Attention is now needed for secondary education where the gross enrollment rate stands at about 50 percent and quality of education is very low. Access is also unequal and many poor households cannot afford the direct and opportunity costs of secondary education, particularly in rural areas.

IGNOU, NHRC to train cops on Human Rights

The Indira Gandhi National Open University’s (IGNOU’s) School of Law (SOL) in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) organised the third three-day Training of Trainers programme (TOT) on Human Rights for police personnel at the IUC Lab, IGNOU, main campus  at New Delhi.

The three-day training programme was attended by 26 police officials from all over the country. The main objective of this workshop was to sensitize the police functionaries on Human Right principles and values.

Transferable Officers’ Wards to get 60% seats in Sanskriti Schools

Guidelines for setting up Sanskriti type schools in the country have been framed with a provision of 60 percent seats for the wards of transferable officers of All India Service/Central Services. In case land is provided free of cost by the State Government, 10 percent (out of the above 60 percent) seats will be reserved for wards of State Government employees.

As per guidelines, the proposal to set up Sanskriti type School in any State Capital may be initiated by the State Government or Association of All India Services/Central Civil Services Officers in consultation with the Central Government employees Coordination Committee, justifying the need to set up such a school at that Station. A proposal to open a Sanskriti type school in Shillong, Meghalaya has been received. However, no decision has yet been taken on the proposal.

Canara Bank Develops Portal for Implementation of NSIGSE

Dr D Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resource Development has launched a web portal for implementation of the National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE). Also present were Smt. Anshu Vaish, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy and Shri A K Gupta Executive Director, Canara Bank.

The Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education” was launched in May 2008 with the objective to establish an enabling environment to reduce the drop-outs and to promote the enrolment of girl child belonging mainly to SC/ST communities in secondary schools.

The Canara Bank has developed a portal to implement the scheme. The portal will facilitate on line submission of data of the beneficiaries and on line disbursement of the amount on the day of the maturity into their accounts directly after certification by the State Nodal Officer that the beneficiary is 18 years old and has passed class X examination.