KOCHI: The budgetary allocation for education sector is minimal and it lacks the importance that should have been given to the sector. However, there is something for the schools to cheer about.The government has exempted service tax which will bring down the fees in three specific segments - pre-school education to higher education, education for obtaining qualification recognised by national law, and education as part of approved vocational education. For example, for a student who pays a fee of Rs 10,000, service tax to the tune of Rs 2,000 will be exempted. The noon meal scheme implemented in the government sector has been extended to some schools in the private sector as well. The other aspects mentioned are Right to Free and Compulsory Education and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (RTE-SSA), model schools and public-private-partnership (PPP) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan. The budget states that Rs 25,555 crore has been provided for RTE-SSA which is an increase of 21.7 per cent over the 2011-12 budget but analysts say that the amount is much less than the required amount prescribed by various reports.It has also been proposed to set up 6,000 schools at the block level as model schools to benchmark excellence, of which 2,500 will be under PPP. Analysts say that though the concept is good, the Human Resource Ministry should have focused on improving the present infrastructure of the millions of schools and make them work. The `3,124 crore allocated to Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) launched in March 2009 to enhance access to quality secondary education is also less considering the Eleventh Plan outlay of Rs 20,120 crore.
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