QUICK TAKES: Raise fees for higher education

ECONOMIC SURVEY 2003-04/ SOCIAL SECTOR ISSUES

The Economic Survey has said service charges should be levied only to finance higher education. Any attempt to link it to other sectors will prove to be counter-productive, it says.

"Any attempt to raise the service charges to cover full cost for the provision of basic social services will be counter-productive and is to be avoided to the maximum extent possible. In the education sector, at the higher level, there is a case for greater cost recovery but the political constraints may go against the enhancement of user charges," the survey said.

The observation is important as the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance has talked of increased spending on the social sector by the Centre. There has been widespread concern over the government's ability to raise funds for such programmes.

The survey has also said cost recovery, when imposed, should improve quality and exempt the poor. In addition to this, the revenue collected should go to a special fund to be reinvested in the social sectors.

The observation regarding higher education is significant in wake of the recent controversy over the fee structure in India's premier management institutes, the Indian Institutes of Management.

The survey notes student enrolment in university and higher education has increased 26 per cent from 7.26 million in 1997-98 to 9.2 million in 2002-03. Nearly 30.5 million students have enrolled in 133,000 secondary and senior secondary schools during 2001-02.

The literacy rate in India has increased to 64.8 per cent in 2001 from 18.3 per cent in 1951. According to the survey this is the first time when the rate of growth in education has overtaken the growth in population and the absolute numbers of illiterates have started declining. The number of literate grew by 52 per cent in 1981-91 and 59 per cent in 1991-2001.