Public Provisioning of Elementary Education in India: Some issues around public financing

Successive Governments in India have recognized education as a top priority for development. However, the pattern of allocation of resources to education in general and elementary education, in particular, is far from satisfactory. Even after about nine years of the enactment of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), the government has failed to fulfill the RTE mandated physical, financial and human resource requirements which in turn have adversely impacted the overall learning outcomes of the children. If the RTE compliance has to be met, it will require more financial resources which could not be achieved alone through the education cess, and thus additional funds need to be channelized through other tax revenue sources.