Financing Universal Compulsory Free Elementary Education in India
Authors:   ,   Andrews University, David Simon 
Published: June 2023

Problem: There is a definite desire and demand from the people of India for elementary educational opportunities for all children. Since not all children between six and fourteen years of age are able to attend school, it is essential to know why. This study examined some of the factors which tended to influence the financial ability of the government to provide a sufficient number of schools so that all children may attend. Data Collection, Methods, and Procedures: Data has been collected from a review of selected resource material which answer the following questions: What is India presently spending on elementary education? What could India afford to spend annually for implementing universal elementary education? How much money is required to place all children into a school system? What other factors interfere with the potential financial resources which cannot be assigned to promote elementary education? Important findings: Under existing conditions, India is doing reasonably well regarding economic progress; but it could be improved considerable if all the available resources, manpower, and material were utilized to the maximum, thus greatly increasing the Gross National Product (GNP). Unfortunately, concerted effort from all concerned is greatly lacking. The caste and class-biased society is not single-minded, hence it fizzles out into different directions with very little improvement. The well-developed nations like the United Kingdom invest 6.2 percent of its GNP in education, USSR 7.00 percent, Japan 5.2 percent, and other developed countries an average of 4.5 percent, whereas India invested an average of 3 percent of its GNP in education. If India would invest 6 percent or more of its GNP to education, it could place all the children in school by 2000 A.D. If it does not, however, it may not be able to bring all the children into the school system. This is due to an increase in the population of more than ten million children per year, and the lack of available financial resources to educate them. At present, in addition to the children who are already in elementary school, the educational system absorbs an additional four million children from grades (standard) 1 to 8 each year, but six million children are left out of the school system every year. These are being added to the list of illiterates. Furthermore, unless the birth rate is considerably reduced soon, the increased GNP evident in the 1980s will be consumed by the increasing number of children and by other cultural factors – i.e.., the destruction of one-third of the annual harvest of food. If this large quantity of food grain were conserved, it would undoubtedly support the entire elementary educational program in the country. Conclusions: Thus far the elementary-school system has boosted the enrollment in schools, but the educational authorities have not paid attention to retain those who have enrolled nor to control the dropout rate. It is time to enforce attendance laws in the public school system. Since education is the responsibility of the state, the Federal Government should provide financial assistance to help provide food for the poor families who lose part of their family in come when their children attend school. As long as elementary educational opportunity is denied by not allocating sufficient funds for education, future losses in various areas will be greater and social unrest will increase. This principle of loss has been frequently stated by well-known international economists. Well-developed industrial nations have learned of the need for education by experience and research evidences prove the value of universal education.