A thread on Indian states' budget and expenditures on education; based on the research report released by @AccInitiative.

https://accountabilityindia.in/publication/state-education-finances-a-deep-dive-into-school-education-finances-in-eight-states/

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The report takes a closer look at the budgets of 8 Indian states to explore the following questions;

1)Changing trends of schooling financing in India?

2)Prioritisation of different functional areas and the contribution of Union government schemes.

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Relative priority of school education in overall state finances is usually higher for fiscally weaker states.

Government expenditure on school education as a share of GSDP ranged between 4.3 per cent in Bihar to 1.8 per cent each in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu during FY2017-18.

Per-student expenditure is higher for secondary education compared to elementary.

While Himachal Pradesh spent relatively higher per-student as compared to the other seven states, Bihar spent the lowest. It was only ₹2,000 for Bihar, and ₹18,000 for Tamil Nadu.

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While State governments continue to be primary spenders, the Union govt’s contribution is higher for fiscally weaker states.

While the contribution from the Union govt was lowest in Maharashtra at 5 per cent, it was considerably higher in Bihar at 19 per cent in FY 2017-18.

Reliance on CSSs for elementary education financing
is considerably high for Bihar and Rajasthan.

Maharashtra ~ 7 %
HP ~ 11 %
Bihar ~ 65 % During FY 2017-18
Rajasthan ~ 55 % During FY 2017-18

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‘Teacher Salaries’ constitute an overwhelmingly large share of state education finances.

Odisha ~ 71 %
Rajasthan ~ 84 %
During FY 2017-18, the share of states’ own resources spent on ‘Teacher Salaries’ was around 90 per cent for TN and HP.

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‘Incentives to Students’ get second priority after ‘Teacher Salaries’.

A range of incentives for students attending govt schools that include uniforms, textbooks, MDM, merit scholarships etc., along with certain states providing bicycles for girls or travel costs to schools.

Share of education finances spent on ‘School Infrastructure’ ranged between 2 % to 5 %.

While Bihar and Odisha spent 5 % to 6 % each of their school education budget on ‘School Infrastructure’, both in FY 2016-17 and FY 2017- 18, Rajasthan spent only 2 % in FY 2016-17.

‘Teacher Training’ and ‘Quality’ have the least priority in school education finances.

The share of education finances dedicated to ‘Teacher Training’ has been meagre and was less than or equal to 1 % for the six sample states during FY 2016-17. TN spent 5 % in 2018-19.

Spending on other "Quality" related initiatives:

ICT infrastructure: 1-3 %
Monitoring and Inspection: 1-3 %

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