Budget 2022: ‘Overall approach is that institutions must face the market’, says JNU academic

NEW DELHI: The Union Budget 2022, tabled in Parliament by the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, on February 1, does not do enough to address the crisis left by the pandemic in education. Although the budgets for both school and higher education have risen overall, the increase is “inadequate” for closing learning gaps, conducting research, and guaranteeing quality. “The rise in budgetary allocation is inadequate for doing justice to the massification,” said Saumen Chattopadhyay, professor at Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He spoke to Careers360 about Budget 2022 and what it says about government priorities with regard to education. Edited excerpts below.

Q. Do you think the plans of e-learning will help address the issue of learning loss during the pandemic?

Learning loss due to school closure will be overcome only after a period of time. For school children, interaction in the classroom is important for attainment of learning outcomes. Passive watching of TV channels cannot replace the interaction that takes place in the class. In online education, interaction has remained a challenge. Technology can be brought in to overcome the present crisis and to contribute to learning but dependency on this beyond a point is not a solution in the long run. The Union Budget 2022 emphasizes setting up of TV channels to supplement teaching but there seems to be an inclination on the part of the government to introduce technology in the classroom. In the budget, three major issues have emerged: first, there is a focus on an increasing use of information communication technology (ICT), though the budgetary allocation to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and PM e-Vidya have been reduced. But overall, there is a thrust on the promotion of technology, particularly as indicated in the budget for the National Education Mission through ICT. Secondly, for higher education, there is a focus on internationalisation, nurturing the Institutions of Eminence, and setting up of a digital university; third, on skill development.

The finance minister also mentioned the University Grants Commission (UGC) introducing the draft of the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF). This is one way of benchmarking the quality of institutions and allow for student mobility to exercise their choices freely across the institutions as per their desires.

So, the thrust is on vocational and skill education to be achieved by allowing for students’ freedom to choose courses which can be facilitated by a thrust on technology. This would also help us embrace internationalisation and promotion of world-class universities in an expanding world of global higher education.

The Union Budget 2022 does not mention the National Research Foundation (NRF). The overall rise in budgetary allocation is inadequate. We have to do much more to overcome the pandemic-inflicted losses. The increase is barely to account for inflation and an increase in the salaries of the teachers and not much for the facilities that are required in institutions.

After the pandemic, state governments are in a tight fiscal situation. Health should be prioritized but education remains no less important in the long term. Considering this, there is an inadequate budgetary allocation if we consider the Union and states put together.

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Q. Budget 2022 talks about establishing a digital university. In fact, the education part of the speech was entirely on online learning. What did you think of that?

India is a vast country and the loss due to the pandemic is huge. Hence, we need to immediately boost infrastructure with focus on technology and improve facilities that students are getting. It is expected that over time, students and teachers will overcome the challenges, adopt a blended model and technology will continue to play an important role which has a limit. Teachers should continue to play an important role in the classroom.

With states facing a post-pandemic fiscal crisis, I don't see enough has been done in the budget. Also, there is no massive thrust on school infrastructure to overcome the learning losses.

In a digital university, the university as a physical space is completely undermined. Further, this is a new form of the university, one that will connect to the students just virtually. Some universities in Africa are virtual – there are buildings but no hostels or campuses.

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Q. Despite the emphasis on online learning, the allocation to it seems small. The ICT mission has got Rs 400 crore.

It is utterly inadequate. The development path in India has continued to be determined by investment in physical infrastructure at the expense of education, and health-driven human capital formation. People should be empowered to earn their livelihood with dignity.

In the initial part of the budget, the entire thrust is on infrastructure and infrastructure needs skills. Going by the budget speech, there will be an increase in capital expenditure, which will create demand for jobs mainly concentrated in the private sector. But the lower strata of the population will not gain much unless they are educated, literate and are imparted with the requisite skill. This section of the population is likely to be left out of the growth process.

Students are not happy with the present status of teaching and learning. Teachers too are unable to deliver. The digital divide is significant in India. It is expensive for students to attend online classes and those who can't, are missing out.

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Q. Allocation to Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has increased over last year’s budget estimate but is still below 2019 levels. This is despite the Economic Survey 2022 stating that public schools need support to handle the increased enrolment. What sort of support should the schools have got?

The allocation to SSA is inadequate. There should have been an increase in the budget because of the significant loss induced by the pandemic. We are focusing on skills and not doing enough for laying the foundation. Education as a whole should be an important agenda but that continues to be missing.

Despite several reports stating enrollments in public funded institutions have risen, there has been no commensurate rise in financial support. With a disruption induced by the Third Wave, the Union Budget should have empowered the schools with the necessary digital infrastructure to continue with the teaching-learning. Although there are examples of some interventions in some pockets to digitally equip students and teachers, there is no attempt to address the enormous amount of need of the country in the wake of the Pandemic.

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Q. The Higher Education Financing Budget (HEFA) has been cut drastically. JNU had also taken a HEFA loan. Overall how has HEFA impacted the institutions?

The budget for HEFA has been drastically cut and it was done in the previous year as well. So, HEFA is no longer being relied upon to fund the expansion plans of universities. Whatever loans some universities have taken, it will be possibly continued with but the project HEFA has been abandoned.

A university borrows for its expansion and has to pay back the loan while the government pays the interest. In this scenario, repayment of the loans constitutes significant expenditure when the reality is that most of the universities are running into deficit. HEFA will lead to an increase in the tuition fees to ensure higher cost recovery.

At the moment, Category I Universities have the freedom to introduce new courses as long as they are cost-recovery in nature. This is also true for the Institutions of Eminence. Options are to be explored to mobilise resources but this way of mobilisation will interfere with access to universities, quality of teaching and institutional autonomy. A change in the mode of financing from public funding to other sources like industry, universities are being made more accountable to the new sources of funding. Reputed universities must continue to be provided with adequate public support.

If you look at the budget for UGC [University Grants Commission], there is an increase which is insignificant. Keeping in mind that for quality, it is per student cost which matters, the rise in budgetary allocation is inadequate for doing justice to the massification. Embracing technology is in a way a cost cutting measure in the long run.

On how inclusive and equitable growth will be attained, there is no clarity, there is no signal.

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Q. Do you see the National Education Policy [NEP 2020] in the budget? Other than the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC), the budget doesn’t seem to provide for promises like the Gender Inclusion Fund or even for the large-scale reorganising of education.

In terms of the NEP, budgetary allocation in the estimated budget 2021-22 was less than Rs 50 crore and the revised estimates are even less. The NEP seeks to construct a market for higher education with support from four pillars – with HECI [Higher Education Commission of India] as the overarching institution –which constitute the entire regulatory structure. The focus on ABC is fundamental to this reorganisation of higher education as envisaged in the NEP.

So in terms of budgetary allocations, there aren't many signals which are forthcoming. But there are signals about how institutions are to be constructed, like digital universities, NSQF with no talk about NRF or HEGC [Higher Education Grants Council].

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Q. The budget for teacher training has been low for years. How does this harm the system in the long run?

In teacher education, the government was trying to do something significant through Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching. There is not much of an increase with Rs 95 crore allocated to this scheme in the Budget 2022. Compared with budget estimates to revised estimates, if a scheme has utilized the estimated amount as reflected in the revised, it shows the seriousness of the government towards the scheme, despite the pandemic.

Teacher Training and Adult Education has been allocated Rs 127 crore, but in the last year, it was Rs 250 crore. This reduction has persisted for several years. Budgetary allocation reflects the faith the government reposes in some of the schemes and directions. In that way, teachers' education needs more resources.

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Q. Many have criticised the budget for being anti-academic and also against marginalised sections.

If you look at the larger scheme of higher education transformation as envisaged in the NEP, the Budget 2022 is anti-academic and is not favourable to the marginalised sections of the country. The increase in the budget for pre and post-matric scholarships is inadequate given the massification – there are 37-38 million students in the higher education sector, a majority of them from underprivileged sections of society.

The overall budget signals a push for institutions to borrow from other sources and liberalise the admission process. It is inimical to the interests of the marginalised sections of society. They will suffer because of the increasing differentiation within the university system which is getting more and more accentuated. Access to institutions does not guarantee quality education.

Academia would like to have more freedom in teaching and research which entails infusion of more resources. I don't see much funding for research. Of freedom, there is even less. The overall approach is that the institutions must face the market to pull themselves up and deliver quality, nationally and globally for some select universities.

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Education is not a typical commodity so the logic which applies to a general market product does not apply to education. If you promote the market, the concern for merit and margin are compromised as money power gains dominance while the impact on overall quality improvement remains highly uncertain given acute inequality as reflected in the absence of a level playing field.