Expense on education far behind target: official

Even as government's spending on education has increased ten times in the 11th Plan, the expenditure on education remains far behind the target.     

Against the target to achieve six per cent GDP spending on education, at present the entire expenditure made in the sector both by the state governments and the Centre is pegged at 3.6 per cent of the GDP.     

"The spending by states constitute nearly 75 per cent of the total spending on education. If they increase their spending by two to three times, the target of six per cent GDP expenditure on education can be achieved," Higher Education Secretary R P Agrawal said at an education fair organised by Assocham here today.     

He said countries like Denmark and Cuba spend eight to ten per cent of their GDP on education. He said there was a lot of scope for involvement of private parties in the education sector.     

He said the government has a target to provide training on skill development to about 500 million people by 2022. At present, the country provides skill development to about four million people.     

He also stressed on industry-academia interaction for promotion of skill-based training.