A 16-year-old Dalit girl, Bandana, from Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district, has started a petition a year back on the online campaign platform, Change.org to increase the Union budget for education. The petition filed by the young girl is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) as it seeks the budget allocation for education to be increased to six per cent of the GDP. The budget allocation for the financial year 2021-22 will be announced on February 1, 2021.
“I have started this petition asking our Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to increase contribution to education from public resources and give a clear financial roadmap to reach 6% of GDP (long-standing national commitment, reaffirmed in the NEP) — so that all children can receive free education up to the higher secondary level,” Bandana said.
The petition addressed to the Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank' and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has gathered over 73,000 signatures as of yet.
Bandana, in her petition, requests for the extension of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 to cover secondary education as well. She also asks for an increased budget in order to increase the number of secondary schools in India. As of now, the RTE Act covers only elementary education (Classes 1 to 8) for children of the age group six to 14.
“Education is critical to every girl's future. The only way to make sure all girls have access to education is by ensuring the extension of the RTE Act up to higher secondary level and also ensuring that more money is spent by the government to build secondary schools in every village,” she said.
As per the data shared by the Ministry of Education, the government had issued 3.1 per cent of the total GDP for education in 2019-20.
Bandana mentioned a recent survey conducted in a few villages to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and informed that most children were unsure about whether they will return to school.
“In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the right time to operationalise National Education Policy's Gender Inclusion Fund (as also the Inclusion Fund for other marginalised groups) to support school reopening and re-enrolment in the immediate term and ensure that secondary education is made free for all children by extension of the RTE Act up to 18 years,” she said.
“If the government fulfills its promise of allocating 6 per cent of GDP on education, there would be a secondary school in villages like mine. Thousands of girls like me, who have suffered a loss in learning days because of the COVID-19 pandemic would be able to return to schools and would grow up with skills that can contribute to the development of our nation,” added.
