Anand Mahindra retweets 'top 10 educated countries' without India on list

According to the Economic Survey, India spent 3.1 per cent of its GDP on education in 2019-2020

Business tycoon Anand Mahindra on Monday retweeted a list of the top 10 educated countries in the world, shared by World of Statistics. The index showed Canada on top, followed by Russia, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea, Israel, the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia. India's name was not in the top 10. 

Education is a crucial indicator often used to measure the development of a country. Giving a clarion call, Mahindra said it is not only the government's job, but everyone has to do their bit.

The tweet comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Schools of Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme on September 5. As per the new scheme, India will upgrade as many as 14,500 schools to reflect the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020's key features to reorient India's education policy.  

 

NEP 2020 is an education policy aiming to address India's many growing developmental imperatives. It proposes revising and revamping all aspects of the education sector, including its regulation and governance. The policy lays particular emphasis on developing the creative potential of individuals. It also aims to re-establish all teachers, at all levels, as the most respected members of our society.

In a press conference, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the idea was to create a set of schools that would act as "NEP labs." Each school will be linked to higher education institutions for mentoring, and there will be provisions for internships with local artisans. Regarding the quality of education, there will be special modules on improving foundational literacy and numeracy.

According to the Economic Survey, education spending rose by 20 per cent during the Covid-19 pandemic, compared to approximately 73 per cent in the health sector, in 2021-22.

It further stated that the combined expenditure for the centre and state expenditure on education increased from Rs 3.54 trillion in 2014-15 to Rs 6.97 trillion in 2021-22.

As a percentage of GDP, it increased from 2.8 in 2014-15 to 3.1 in 2020-21. However, as a percentage of total expenditure on social services, it decreased from 10.8 to 9.7 in this period, the survey added.