Volume : III, Issue : III, March - 2013

State Financing of Education in India: An Empirical Analysis

Suresh Kr. Nath, Nissar A. Barua

Abstract :

Issues of adequacy, efficiency and equity emanating from state financing of education in India occupy the centrestage in domain of Economics of Education. Although adequacy of educational provision is reflected in the gross enrollment ratio (GER), however, in a heterogeneous and unequal society like India, a more revealing picture of adequacy is provided by estimating the GER in terms of ethnicity, religion, caste, sex and income levels. In elementary education, where a large number of recipients suffer from severe malnutrition and ill health, an assessment in adequacy must also consider the basic nutritional and health provisions. Market distortions cause divergence between social and private return to education which is often aggravated by the state intervention resulting in serious efficiency implications. Moreover, direct public provision is often inefficient which manifests in the form of excessive rate of dropout, high rate of student failure and extended period of instruction. Equity implications are critical areas of concern in any public educational funding programme and have to be decided on the basis of private as well as social rate of returns from education. However, such indicators have been distorted significantly by extensive government subsidy. In recent years, in India, there have been increasing calls to reduce subsidy in higher education and redirect the resources to primary education on grounds of equity. Equity considerations also call for the inclusion of members of the marginalized groups among the beneficiaries of public provision of education.c

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijar  

Cite This Article:

Suresh Kr. Nath,Nissar A. Barua State Financing of Education in India: An Empirical Analysis Indian Journal of Applied Research, Vol.III, Issue.III March 2013

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