New Delhi, Mar 16 (UNI) The opposition Congress party on Tuesday strongly criticised the reduction in expenditure proposals in school education in the general budget and said that the government was not

paying attention to the need to compensate for the digital divide among poor children and about a quarter of teachers' posts in educational institutions are vacant.

Initiating the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Education for 2021-22, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said it is a matter of regret that both the target setting and budget allocation in the Ministry of Education are low.

He said education should get at least six percent allocation but got only 2.67 percent. It is only 3.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

'It is unfortunate that thousands of crores of rupees have been cut in education budget in school education and training of teachers,' Mr Tharoor said while batting for more allocation for online education and digital classes.

He welcomed the suggestion to run Sainik Schools in collaboration with NGOs and the private sector. He expressed the need to allocate more funds in the scheme of providing mid-day meals and breakfast.

'About 23 percent of the teachers' posts in the educational institutions of the country are lying vacant. Appropriate steps must be taken to fill them,' he said. Mr Tharoor said that 0.5 percent is being spent for the training of teachers.

Taking part in the discussion, BJP Member Sanjay Jaiswal said that the budget of education in the general budget of 2021-22 is very important for making India a 'Vishwa Guru' in the year 2047.

He said that there has been a change in the old education system in the country and a new system has been brought.

He dismissed the Congress leader's charge of budget cuts, saying that the education budget had increased ten-fold in the last five years. 'There has been a 20 per cent increase in allocation for digital e-learning,' he said.

MORE UNI NY/ VT