Public education needs public money
Argument
Education in India has been underfunded for years, and that is weakening the public school system. Drawing on Unesco’s SDG 4 assessment, the column says spending has stayed at about 4.1% of GDP for a decade, just above the UN’s 4% floor and below the 6% target governments keep promising.
Assessment
The argument links low spending to a visible shift toward private unaided schools, falling enrolment and the closure or merger of government schools. It also points out a structural problem: a larger share of state funding now goes on salaries, leaving less for training, learning quality and innovation.
Limits
The case rests heavily on budget shares and enrolment trends; it does not provide fresh evidence on how much added spending would improve outcomes or which reforms would deliver the biggest gains.
The column’s prescription depends on coordination among the Centre, states and local bodies, but that shared-financing model is also where execution has often been weakest.