Unesco praises India for spending up to 4.6% of GDP on education

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, or Unesco has praised India for spending up to 4.6 per cent of its GDP on education.

As per the latest series of reports from the Unesco Institute for Statistics on world education statistics, between 2015 and 2024, India allocated approximately 4.1 per cent to 4.6 per cent of its GDP to education.

With this, India remained aligned with international benchmarks set by ‘Education 2030 Framework for Action’, which recommends that countries allocate 4-6 per cent of their GDP to education.

During the same period, the expenditure on education by India’s government has fluctuated between 13.5 per cent and 17.2, the reports said.

This range, however, aligns with the Education 2030 target, that encourages governments to allocate 15-20 per cent of their public expenditure to education.

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These reports by Unesco gave a detailed analysis of global education investment trends, expecially in context with achieving sustainable development goals (SDG), especially SDG 4, which focuses on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education.

India’s investment in education remains stable

As per the report, investment by India in education has remained stable, consistent with international benchmarks and the country has been investing more than some of its neighbours in terms of both GDP percentage and government expenditure.

Compared to other Central and Southern Asian countries, India has put more money into education in terms of GDP percentage as well as government expenditure, contrasting with the global trend of declining average investment.

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The report also noted that while South Asian countries, such as Nepal and Bhutan, allocate around 4-6 per cent of their GDP to education, nations like Afghanistan and Pakistan are far behind in terms of both expenditure and resource allocation.

“As a percentage of total expenditure, the world average is in decline. Central and Southern Asia countries invest more in comparison with investment in 2010s. A decline is noted in other regions,” the report said.

In 2022, India’s expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP among Central and Southern Asia is lower only to Bhutan (7.5 per cent ), Kazakhstan (7.2 per cent ), Maldives (4.7 per cent ), Tajikistan (5.7 per cent ) and Uzbekistan (5.2 per cent ).

Interestingly, taking into account the whole of Asia, India’s expenditure is higher than countries like China and Japan.

Globally, the world average of public expenditure on education has seen a decline, from 13.2 per cent in 2010 to 12.5 per cent in 2020, with a notable decrease following the Covid-19 pandemic.

With inputs from agencies