Budget 2017: Crisis and opportunities in education sector

The school education and literacy budget increased 3.2% in 2016-17

The 2017-18 budget is an opportunity for the government to concentrate on improving school education for over 260.5 million children who enrolled in elementary and secondary school in 2015-16–children who will form the core of India’s working-age population, one billion by 2030, the largest in the world.

“Business as usual” will not solve the problem, submitted Pratham, an education nonprofit, in a pre-budget consultation with India’s finance ministry. “Unless major shifts are undertaken on an urgent basis to build children’s foundational skills, we are losing huge