Education Facts: 1.34% of GDP is what Govt. Spends on Higher Education

On Monday, December 5, the Lok Sabha was informed that the Government’s expenditure on higher education during the fiscal year 2013-2014 was 1.34% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar answered the questions raised in the house and said that according to the HRD Ministry’s Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education – 2015, 1.34% of the GDP was spent on higher education.

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As per the XII five year plan, the expenditure that was set for the department of higher education was Rs.1,10,700 Crore whereas the original expenditure laid out in XI Plan was of Rs.39,646.82 crore.

This is an increase of about 2.79 times. Javadekar further added that the expenditure has increased about 2.79 times and the Central Government has been making efforts to increase public spending on higher education and to strengthen Indian education.

The Government has been trying to make education more flexible for which it has been granting funds to Open and Distance Learning Universities as well. Plans have also been made to get Indian institutes among the top universities in the world. Also, Government is working on the development of top class institutes by providing fellowships for research and development.

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However, there have been certain roadblocks such as the revamping of UGC, the decision of MCI scraping and other such issues. Despite the problems, the Government is moving ahead with its plans and is working to increasing the reach of education by conducting popular exam – such as JEE – outside India.