New Delhi: The All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) has voiced strong criticism against the Union budget, underlining that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has failed to live up to its own promise of allocating 6% of GDP to the education sector.
In fact, the current allocation of only 2.51% of the total budget represents a decrease from the 2.57% allocated in 2023.
AIFRTE, a coalition of students, teachers, academicians, and democratic organisations, said that reduced allocations to the education sector “reflects the Union government’s policy of centralisation of the education sector in flagrant disregard of the federal concept”.
The organisation noted with a lament that the funding for the University Grants Commission (UGC) has been brought down by 60.99% to Rs 2,500 crore from the previous year’s revised estimate of Rs 6,409 crore. “This reduction will disproportionately affect various scholarships and educational programmes targetting the marginalised sections of the population,” a press statement from AIFRTE said.
It went to on allege that such steps are aimed at “dismantling public-funded universities by inflicting severe fund cuts”.
Jagmohan Singh, the chairperson of AIFRTE, alleged that the government’s current strategy neglects basic public institution infrastructure while favouring specific initiatives like Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence and the National Mission in Education through ICT.
He said such an approach would lead to severe harm to India’s intellectual and cultural heritage while calling for a budget that would reflect the diversity and inclusivity of Indian society, rather than one that marginalises the underprivileged.
