New Delhi, May 20: Statistics from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) show that the international aid to India for education has dropped by more than 26% as against a global decline 2%. While India received $634 million in 2016, the aid amount was $464 million in 2017. The data has been published in the global education aid monitoring report released by UNESCO. It says that the figure is the lowest in the past four years and it may adversely affect education for all.
International aid for education registered a decline of 2% in 2017
The report shows that global aid to education went down by 2% in 2017 at $13.2 billion- a fact which led UNESCO to question the commitment of global donors to achieve education for all. For the year 2017, Germany emerged as the largest donor for education with $2 billion disbursed as aid. US claimed the second spot with $1.5 billion and France, the third spot with $1.3 billion.
The International Development Association (IDA), although still one of the top donors for India, reduced its aid significantly. Data reported by Mint shows that IDA gave $240 million in aid in 2017, which was way below the $447 million it had offered in 2016.
Another key donor, the United Kingdom also gave a mere $7.5 million in 2017- the lowest figure in 10 years. UK’s aid to India had peaked in 2009 at $208 million. However, the report also shows that the European Union and Germany have increased their contribution to India.
Aid from IDA and UK to India has declined while that from EU and Germany has gone up
As per UNESCO, the number of out-of-school children in at the primary level in India has declined from 17% in 2006 to 5% in 2015 while at the lower secondary level has been from 22% to 9% for the same period. Despite the decline, the UN agency said that “there is still a core of hard-to-reach populations”.
Mint has quoted an HRD official on the matter who said that India was committed to inclusive education and reduction in international aid will have little impact on India’s education outcome. The official, requesting anonymity, said that both the Central and State governments spend more than 3% of their GDP on education and there is a clear focus on school education in terms of financial as well as policy initiatives.