Though finance minister Arun Jaitley's grand announcements during the Budget 2018-19 offered many proposals to social sectors including health and education, the government hasn't come up with any concrete proposals for India’s 472 million children. The total Budget for children remains nearly stagnant at 3.23% per cent with Rs 79,088 crore allocated for children over last year’s allocation of 71,305 crore (an 11 per cent increase).
The amounts allocated for key schemes in education have seen a hike from last year - Rs 26,128.81 crore for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) (11.2 per cent increase); and mid-day meal (MDM) with Rs 10,500 crore allocation which has seen Rs 500 crore increase over last year. Experts say that though the government has increased the allocation for children, these many not prove to be enough.
“Substantial financial investment is a prerequisite to bring in change for children in order to meet these targets. It is an opportunity lost with continued trends of incremental increase since an exponential increase in budgets for children was the prerequisite for fulfilling dreams for our children, said Komal Ganotra, the director of policy advocacy and research at Child Rights and You (CRY).
The mid-day meal, that plays a key role in nutrition and retention of children in elementary education, scheme saw an increase of Rs 500 crore. The incremental increase in this scheme may fall short in ensuring the desired quality of mid-day meals to all children studying in our government schools, the experts added.
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