Budget 2014 - Education

Apart from the obvious, here are 15 easy high impact solutions that should be funded in Budget

2014, India

Tied Funding

• Phased increase in spending from 3-6 percent as promised in the manifesto.

• Build governance processes, outcome targets etc. and link them to the additional funding.

Investment in school support structures• Allocate funds for mechanisms that support schools

on the Three Pillars: accountability, governance, outcomes. Award schools directly upon application.

• Transparent Open Access mechanism for tracking progress nationwide for both hard and soft infrastructure, its utilisation and the results on investment.

• Create a comprehensive teacher feedback mechanism that is available to both private and public sector schools to help teachers deliver better outcomes or identify structural hurdles that need interventions.

Reduce Teacher Shortages

• Cash Incentives for new teachers to join the profession to reduce shortages. Smart design will serve national priorities too.

• Train para teachers locally and provide continuous (even tech based) teacher training to them based on experiential learning and reflection. Fund the para teacher training project.

Teacher and Faculty Performance Incentive

Scheme• Fund for incentives for excellent teacher

performance based on qualification, attendance and student outcomes.

• The incentives can be extended to other teaching cadre building activities including research, mentoring, reading, reflective practices, innovation etc.

Invest in Knowledge Databases

• National Database for Academic Papers and National citation indices.

• National Case Clearing House for Indian case studies especially in Education.

• Continue to invest in data gathering and dissemination via DISE etc. to increase range and usability of data for constructive policy interventions

Outcome Accountability

• Improve Education sector Accountability on Outcomes not Inputs

• Every school to have their own website with mandated information updated every quarter. Evaluate Government and Private sector schools equally. Create School Transparency and Accountability fund to enable this.

Digital Literacies• Integrate the National Digital Literacy

Mission with the Teachers mission in an Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV) that has responsibility for training and supporting teachers in new literacies and applying them to teaching and learning. Schemes and missions to have monitoring and evaluation integral to the structure including self reporting

• Build databases of in class activities to create local digital textbooks and workbooks in addition to traditional texts. Funding required for Local Digital Textbooks Program. Incentive funding for multilingual output.

State of Education Report

• An address to the nation and parliament on National Education Day that reports on the State of Education in India including interim progress on budget announcements. This is necessary to keep up the momentum of activity and accountability within the system.

Invest in Education Research Institutions • Set up at least 6 national and 12 regional research

think tanks on education, each charged with a different aspect of the issues at hand. with a focus on applied education research. (e.g. access, quality, equity, employability, skills, research including micro-research, accountability, international standards, competition, dynamic standards (NOS) etc.)

• Invest in understanding what makes better learning happen in India - currently we only depend on foreign research.

• Use recommendations to drive policy and investments in strategically important sectors of education

Governance in Education

• Allocate funds for governance training for school management committees.

• Invest in National Governance Standards for schools and universities.

• Apply similar values and principles - Standards- to diverse range of institutions.

Integrate Vocational Learning

• Integrate vocational and professional skills in school education in years 9 and 10 by allowing schools to choose to participate in projects or national competitions that are based on national priorities. Give grades and certificates for significant participation in nation building via application of skills. Allocate funding for such national projects and competitions)

• Create and encourage the uptake of vocational and professional subjects at the class 12 level at the standard that allows income streams at that level. (The certificate should get you a job). Invest in professional development of such qualification via Curriculum Development funds.

• Encourage higher education GER with enhanced wage premium for further studies to enhance standards. Ensure entry to post secondary education does not have to be directly after school - it can be after a few years of earning (e.g. CA model)

Fee Concession Fund accessed via APL

• Create a Fee concession fund for skilled and talented individuals when certified so via APL. Give certification for ‘Accreditation of Prior Learning’ (APL) when skills are demonstrated on public record

• Demonstration of skills learned outside educational institutions can be certified and the credits earned can be encashed to get fee and time concessions in all post secondary education.(exemption from module and module fees) (Institutes to retrieve fees from Fee concession fund or APL voucher).

• Remove the hierarchy between Academic, Professional and Vocational degrees via similar funding arrangements

• Abolish the term Higher Education and introduce the concept of post-secondary education where all academic, professional and vocational degrees are equal.

Foreign Universities• Bring in foreign universities and global

investments with adequate checks and balances and very clear goals and expectations from them. Budgetary concessions may be required.

• All foreign universities to support the formation of six community colleges with diverse models or invest in skills training, for example. Alternate Nation building contributions may be negotiated.

• Grant Tax /Rent and rates benefits for all nation building activities for all institutions via designated schemes.

Core/Priority Skills Councils

• Recognise Management, Teaching and Governance (including small businesses) as skills and set up sector skills councils for them.

• Allow Skills Funding to core sectors essential for strategy implementation

Financing• Create a Student Loans refinancing agency that insures student

debt and regulates the sector.

• Create a monitoring unit for current student loan schemes to ensure uptake.

• Create a national scholarship scheme to reward hard working students over and above baseline student funding. Let no student be deprived of food (or life) because they could not buy books.

• Open the sector up to private Philanthropy with an Education Relief Fund in line with the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund with tax relief.

• Open up more areas for PPP as a funding mechanism for good quality capacity while professionalising management teams and retaining the governance function - for skills, vocational, professional qualifications as a priority and for the sector as a whole.

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