Economic Survey 2021-22: Education expenditure rises by 20%, school drop-out rate falls, GER improves

Ahead of the Union Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2022 in the Parliament today. The Economic Survey 2021-22 shares some key highlights for the education sector, specially when it comes to overall expenditure, GER and School drop-out rates.

As per the Economic Survey 2021-22 presented by FM Nirmala Sitharaman, the overall Education Expenditure has grown by 20%. Along with it, the Survey also highlighted some positive results including fall in School drop-out rates and improvement in Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER). Let's try and decode what did Economic Survey 2021-22 say about Education Sector.

One of the key takeaways for Education Sector from Economic Survey 2022 has been the growth in the expenditure. As per the survey, the total expenditure incurred towards Education Sector has seen significant growth of upto 20%.

Education Expenditure is incurred by the government under the social sector, which has also seen inflation during the on-going financial year. The Survey states that Central and State Governments earmarked an aggregate of Rs. 71.61 lakh crore for spending on social service sector in (BE) 2021-22.

The Economic Survey also notes that expenditure on health sector increased from Rs. 2.73 lakh crore in 2019-20 to Rs. 4.72 lakh crore in 2021-22 (BE), an increase of nearly 73%.

Among the key positive highlights for Education Sector in Budget 2021-22 has been the significant fall in the School Drop-out rates. As per the data shared in the Economic Survey, the year 2019-20 also saw a decline in drop-out rates at primary, upper primary and secondary levels. During 2019-20, the school drop-out rate at primary level fell from to 1.45% from 4.45% in 2018-19. The drop-out rate fell for both Boys and Girls, which indicates parity in terms of gender participation.

Another important aspect that reported improvement in the Economic Survey 2021-22 was the GER – Gross Enrolment Ratio. GER has reported improvement at all levels i.e., at primary, secondary and higher education. In Higher Education domain, the GER was reported at 27.1%, which shows marginal improvement over the last year's statistic of 26.3% in 2018-19.

Another important aspect that the Economic Survey touched upon was the Impact of Pandemic in Rural Areas. Quoting data from the ASER - Annual Status of Education Report 2021, the Survey says that the pandemic enrolment in age cohort of 15 to 16 years improved and the 'not enrolled' children in this age group declined from 12.1 % in 2018 to 6.6 % in 2021. On the other hand, at school-level i.e., children (age 6-14 years) the non-enrolment ratio has increased from 2.5% in 2018 to 4.6% in 2021.