The Union Budget has not provided enough for children and youngsters, according to child right activists and educators.
Though the Centre planned to introduce a National Education Policy (NEP), it had not provided sufficient funds in the Budget to implement it, they said.
A study of the Budget by the Centre for Child Rights pointed out that the Central government professed focus on NEP, but the share of child education had fallen from 2.18% to 1.74%.
The study also found that the month-wise spending on children’s education during the pandemic had fallen. There had been month-wise underspending by the erstwhile Ministry of Human Resource Development (now the Ministry of Education), the study revealed.
It is important to allocate sufficient budget for children, said Andrew Susairaj, convener, Tamil Nadu Child Rights Watch. “We have to separate it as two components — crime on children and crime against children. There has been a 200% rise in crime on children. But the child protection budget has been continuously falling. Similarly, the Sustainable Development Goals are about reducing infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate. To reduce them, we need investment,” he said.
The government had increased allocation for health but that was to combat the COVID-19 infection.
“We have to look at developing infrastructure and nutrition for children, given that 70% of children are anaemic. Same goes for education. Even to deal with POCSO cases we need child-friendly infrastructure,” he added.
To prevent the rise in children in conflict with law, an effective child protection system is necessary, which in turn calls for funds.
Every year the revised estimates for the Budget had been falling. If it is cut this year, then next year the government is bound to reduce it further. Arun Kumar, general secretary of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisation, condemned the Budget’s thrust on implementing the NEP.
“The Budget speaks of many things without adequate financing. The government had slashed the budget by 6.13% for education, compared to the previous year. This would force the government to rely on market forces to implement its policies,” he said.
The Bill for formation of Higher Education Commissions would put all policy initiatives in the hands of the Central government. No measures had been spelled to fill the largescale vacant teaching and non-teaching posts in the country, he added.