Students get only 6% of edu funds

Students get only 6% of edu funds

Rest Of The Money Spent On Teachers, Management Costs, Painting Walls

Himanshi Dhawan TNN 

New Delhi: It’s hardly a surprise that just half the country’s children studying in Class V can read a Class II textbook, and far lesser can do basic arithmetic. 
    India’s budget for elementary education has doubled between 2009 and 2012, and yet learning abilities continue to stagnate. A new survey has found that despite a funds hike, 78% of the education budget was invested in teachers and management costs, with students receiving a mere 6% of the total spend. Particularly popular was whitewashing of walls and expenditure on school events. 
    Between 2009-2010 and 2011-2012, funds for India’s elementary education hiked from Rs 26,169 crore to Rs 55,746 crore (including state and central share). Across India, per child allocation has increased from Rs 2,004 in 2009-2010 to Rs 4,269 in 2011-2012. But, most of this money was used to build school-level inputs through a large education bureaucracy — controlled and managed by both state and Centre — according to PAISA report by Pratham and Accountability Initiative. 
    Between April, 2010, and November, 2011, schools spent their money on essential supplies, 68% schools whitewashed their walls, 69% spent on school functions, 89% purchased charts, globe and registers. 
    Pointing out this disparity in increased outlays that have not led to improved outcomes, Accountability Initiative director Yamini Aiyar said, “PAISA did not find any co-relation between expenditure on teachers and children’s learning levels. In fact, increased outlays does not mean an improvement in outcomes and we found that teacher training and investments on children were under-prioritized in favour of school infrastructure and teacher’s costs.’’ 
    The study was conducted in 14,283 schools in seven states across rural India. Of the SSA budget, school grants account for a mere 5% of the allocation. Though small, these are the only funds over which school management panels can exercise some expenditure control. 
    The report has expressed concern over the “top-heavy” approach in disbursal of grants under SSA pointing out that schools did not receive according to their requirements. It was also found that while in theory it is not important but in practice release of funds was linked to a utilization certificate given for earlier expenditures. “We find that whitewashing is so popular because it is a job that is quick and easy and requires very little effort on part of the school,” Aiyar added.

Source: Times of India