Data Analysis On Relative Position In Public Spending On Education For Indian State (Gujarat)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to critically assess education sector of India’s western state (Gujarat) by analyzing the education indicators and public spending. Further, it also compares the state’s performance with other states, the major 18 states, EAG states, and non-EAG states to investigate the relative position. For the analysis, various education variables and four expenditure ratios proposed by UNDP (1991) were used. This article relies on secondary data from numerous government reports and organisations. Gujarat's performance in terms of income parameters is outstanding, with the state being in the top five. Nonetheless, in terms of education indicators, the state lags behind other economically sound and backward states. Gujarat falls short of ranking among the top 5 states in terms of education indicators. Gujarat ranks in the bottom three states on some of the variables. Public spending on education is also a major concern because the state doesn't devote enough resources to the sector. Analysis further reveals that state remained in the low levels of education spending throughout the taken time period. There is no significant change in the pattern of education spending despite lower performance on most of the education indicators. Gujarat doesn’t follow the recommendations of various commissions suggesting 6% allocation to education out of total income.