A Study of Financing Secondary Education in India

Abstract

In most countries, secondary education is one which is received formally or informally during adolescence. In the Indian context, secondary education can be explained as the continuum of education between elementary education and higher technical education. It usually covers learners between the ages of 13 to 18 years. There are approximately 235862 students at the secondary level (in thousand) and 24735students in the senior secondary level (in thousand), that are currently receiving education in the secondary level. Financing this can be a huge task and is done by both public and private entities in India. The past few National Education Policies (NEPs) have all been pushing for more funding in the field of education (proposing 6% of the GDP), in order to meet the increasing need of quality education. Some of the issues related to funding secondary education in India include low allocation of funds, as well as low resource usage in the past. This paper aims to understanding the current situation of funding in secondary education in India, the different forms of funding and the issues or barriers associated with the same.