Education is empowering and redefining. For hundreds of millions of the young in India, education is also about discipline, development, curiosity, creativity and a path to breaking the cycle of ignorance and poverty leading to employment and prosperity. I know this because as a poor kid from a tribal village in Odisha, I was lucky enough to get a Masters in Physics in 1964 in India for just over $10 in fees. Where else in the world can you do that? Having studied Physics in India and Electrical Engineering in the US, I acquired a new caste — an engineer — and helped lift my entire family of five sisters and three brothers to college education, enlightenment and lifelong prosperity. This is the dream of many young students in India.
As the government announced the New Education Policy 2020, I was heartened to see education at the forefront of the national agenda. Today, the growing aspirations of children and parents in India are reflected in an increasing demand for education, which has far exceeded the supply. We at the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) (2004-2009) brought the idea of educational transformation for 21st-century needs into the mainstream thinking of the government, with an emphasis on expansion, excellence, and equity. The recommendations of the Commission impacted the education sector through far-reaching initiatives of the UPA government on multiple fronts leading to almost 900 universities, many new IITs and IIMs, increased funding for education in the 11th Five-Year Plan and the Right to Education Bill. NEP 2020 as a statement of intent has much in it that is positive. The challenge, as always, is in the details and in delivering on promises.
For instance, allocating 6 per cent of GDP on education spending is needed and welcome. But how and when? In 2020-2021, the government spent only 3.2 per cent of GDP on education, down from 4.14 per cent in 2014-2015. The government that reduced education spending by 25 per cent in good times is going to double it in bad times? Please show how this is possible before promising a pie in the sky.