At 4.12% of GDP, India behind SAARC nations in edu spending

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The panel stated in its report that the total expenditure on education (including all central ministries and states) as percentage of the GDP for 2021-22 stood at a mere 4.12 per cent. Meanwhile, SAARC countries like Bhutan and Maldives spent 7.47 per cent and 4.67 per cent of their GDP, respectively, in the same period, it added.

The panel, led by Congress MP Digvijay Singh, also expressed concern over the dip in placements in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NIT) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs).

“The committee observes that barring a few institutions like the IIMs, there is an unusual decline in placements in IITs and IIITs between 2021-22 and 2023-24. A similar trend is visible in the NITs. The data also shows a decline in the average financial package secured by each student placed between 2022-23 and 2023-24,” revealed the report, highlighting that the Department of Higher Education should find ways to enhance employability.

Referring to the Institutions of Eminence (IoE), the committee said that nearly eight years after the programme was launched, the Department of Higher Education had been able to notify only 12 of the 20 institutes that it had mandated to notify as Institutions of Eminence.

The committee further recommended that the process of notifying remaining universities as IoEs be expedited. It suggested that universities like the JNU should also be covered under the scheme.

So far, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Madras, IIT-Bombay, Banaras Hindu University, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, OP Jindal Global University, Shiv Nadar University, University of Delhi, University of Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Birla Institute of Technology and Science have been notified as Institutions of Eminence.