EDUCATION, ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES A. Education

The education policy has been reviewed in the light of the goal of national development and priorities set from time to time. In its Resolution on the National Policy on Education in 1968, the government emphasized quality improvement and a planned, more equitable expansion of educational facilities. The need to focus on the education of girls was stressed. The National Policy on Education was reformulated in 1986 (NPE-1986) and updated in 1992. The 1986 NPE provided a comprehensive framework for the development of education up to the end of the century along with a Plan of Action (POA), which assigned specific responsibilities for organizing, implementing and financing proposals. From 1968 onwards, the goal has been to set apart six percent of the National Income on education. In spite of resource constraints as well as competing priorities, the expenditure on education as a percentage of Gross National Product (GNP) has steadily increased from 0.8 percent in 1951-52 to 3.3 percent in 1994-95. Paragraph 11.4 of the 1986 NPE states that: “ … the investment on education is gradually increased to reach a level of six percent of the National Income as early as possible. Since the actual level of investment has remained far short of that target, it is important that greater determination is shown now to find the funds for the programs laid down in this policy. While actual requirements will be computed from time to time on the basis of monitoring and review, the outlay on education will be stepped up to ensure that during the 8th Five year Plan and onwards it will uniformly exceed six percent of the national income.” There are 130 schemes in the Department with a total Eighth Plan outlay of Rs 74,430 million. The outlay for 1996-97 was Rs 33,827 million. There are 18 Centrally Sponsored Schemes which account for 65.7 percent of the total outlay. Mid-Day-Meal Scheme is the major centrally sponsored plan with a 1996-97 outlay of Rs 14,000 million. Other centrally sponsored schemes are Operation Blackboard, Non-forma