New Delhi, Feb. 15 : Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh has strongly condemned the completely irresponsible, inappropriate and insensitive statement of the Union Finance Secretary published in an English newspaper about the status of education and investment in education and demanded necessary action from the government. .
Giving information in this regard, the President of the ABRSM Prof. JP Singhal said that the statements made by the Union Finance Secretary Mr. TV Somanathan regarding the expenditure on education, the number of teachers and educational institutions are highly objectionable, contrary to the National Education Policy and Beyond ground conditions.
The ABRSM has sent a memorandum to the Union Education Minister, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, stating that all national education policies from 1968 to 2020 recommend increasing public investment on education to 6% of GDP, but unfortunately, public investment on education is very low and has remained stable approximately up to 10% of the total government expenditure of the Center and the States or 3% of the GDP.
Various Standing Committees of the Parliament on Education have also expressed concern over the investment in education and its status from time to time. The Standing Committees on Human Resource Development/Education (2018, 2020, 2021) have repeatedly noted that the Department of Education is allocated far less funds than it proposes. The Standing Committee on Education (2022) has also laid emphasis on proper budgetary allocation to ensure effective and successful implementation of the National Education Policy. Despite this, the Union Finance Secretary has talked about not investing more in education.
ABRSM General Secretary Shivanand Sindankera said that the UNESCO report ‘2021 State of the Education Report for India: No Teacher, No Class’, states that there are around 120,000 single-teacher schools in India and 89% of these single-teacher schools are in rural areas. 11.16 lakh posts of teachers are vacant in the schools of the country. The number of vacant posts in rural areas is up to 69%. The Standing Committee on Education (2021) has expressed concern over the decline in GER at the senior secondary level. According to NEP, to achieve 100% GER at all levels of school education by 2030, more than three crore school children need to be enrolled in school. The Standing Committee on Higher Education (2022) has stated that increasing the Gross Enrollment Ratio in higher education to 50% by 2035, as per the objective of NEP 2020, will require a large number of teachers. In spite of all these facts, the Union Finance Secretary has stated that the number of educational institutions and teachers is sufficient.
ABRSM President JP Singhal said that the public statements made by the Union Finance Secretary Mr. Somanathan, contrary to the policies of the Central Government and the reports of the constitutional committees regarding education, have shown the autocracy of the bureaucracy, violation of democratic systems and his lack of understanding in the field of education . Condemning his statement, twelve lakh teachers associated with the ABRSM have demanded a proper explanation and action from the government in this regard.
