HP scores high on higher edu, best spender in region
Himachal Pradesh alongside Kerala, Karnataka and north-eastern states of Sikkim, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh has topped national charts across key indicators of higher education mapped by the NITI Aayog between 2011-12 and 2021-22.
The state is ranked the second best on decadal growth in gross enrolment ratio (GER); gender parity index; and density of state government universities.
Punjab, Haryana lag in allocation: NITI Aayog
- At 1.56% of GSDP, Bihar had highest higher education budget for 2020-21
- At 0.24%, Punjab’s allocation was lowest in region; Himachal earmarked 0.56%, Haryana 0.49% against national average of 0.62%
Punjab and Haryana, the other two regional states, reviewed in the NITI Aayog’s report on “Expanding Higher Education through States and State Public Universities”, have done well on pupil-teacher ratio and gender parity. Both these states however lag on the GER, the percentage of students enrolled in higher education compared to the total eligible population, a key sign of access to education.
Overall, the regional states lag big on spending in the sector which the report measured for 2020-21. Bihar is the best performer here. Its higher education budget as a percentage of Gross State Domestic product was 1.56%. The lowest spenders were Punjab (0.24%), Gujarat and Rajasthan (0.23 %) and Telangana (0.18%). Himachal’s budget for higher education was 0.56% of its GSDP against Haryana’s 0.49%.
The combined expenditure by the Centre and states on higher education as a percentage of the GDP is a mere 0.62%, as per the report.
On the GER, the national decadal average is 28.4%, with Kerala and Himachal, top two ranked, posting a GER of over 40% followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and West Bengal.
The national average for pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) is 23 and top five decadal performers are Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Punjab and Tamil Nadu — all with a PTR under 23. Nagaland, Himachal, Chhattisgarh, WB and Madhya Pradesh are top ranked on gender parity index measured through a decade while Haryana comes seventh.
The report has revealed a decadal increase of 38% — 3.24 crore students — in student enrolment at state public universities (SPUs), which house 81% of the entire higher education enrolment.
To deepen the access to education, the report has suggested a National Research Policy; support to start-ups; promotion of holistic education, including human values and global citizenship; and attraction of talent from abroad.
Assessing the SPU density (number of state public universities per lakh eligible population aged 18-23 years), the NITI Aayog said Himachal (0.9) exceeded the India average (0.5), while Haryana (0.6) and Punjab (0.4) ranked fifth and 13th, respectively.
In the region, Punjab has the highest number of colleges (83) affiliated per SPU, Haryana has 54 and Himachal 49.
