Promises vs Provision: Public funding in NEP 2020 framework

Five years after NEP's launch, India's education spending stagnant at 4.1% of GDP - far below the promised 6% - while declining scholarships, fund shift towards elite institutes, and rising student debt challenge the policy's vision of inclusive education

- Protiva Kundu

India has one of the largest education systems in the world, with over 26.5 crore students enrolled in 15 lakh schools and 4.3 crore students across 59,000 higher education institutions. Over the past five years, India's education system has witnessed substantial structural changes, many of which are still in progress. While the ultimate shape and impact of these reforms remain to be seen, the scale of transformation is undeniable. In this context, public financing plays a foundational role. A system of this magnitude and diversity cannot achieve inclusive, equitable, and quality education outcomes without adequate and sustained public investment.

Public spending on education

In policy discussions around government financing of education, two recurring questions dominate: (i) How much does the government spend on education? (ii) Is the current level of spending adequate to ensure quality education for all?

To answer the latter, an assessment of adequacy must be grounded in an estimate of the required investment for delivering quality school education. This exercise in estimation began with the Kothari Commission (1966), which, after comprehensive analysis, recommended that public expenditure on education should reach 6% of the Gross National Product (GNP) by 1985-86, with at least two-thirds allocated to school education during the first few decades. This benchmark was reiterated by the National Policy on Education (1986) and subsequent expert committees, including Saikia Committee (1997), Tapas Majumdar committee (1999), CABE committee (2005). Following the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (2009) estimated that an additional Rs.1.7 trillion was needed for its implementation by 2015.