Sen's choice: More money back to schools

NEW DELHI: The government needs to allocate more funds towards primary education and healthcare to achieve its target of inclusive growth and ensure greater efficiency and accountability in delivery of public services through organisational reforms, economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a CII seminar, Mr Sen said, “Resources generated from economic growth should be used for public services and public goods in general, rather than being absorbed only in private consumption.” He said there has been slow progress on the education front, despite the economic reforms in the country.

“Primary teachers are very efficient but are not using their capabilities well, negligence and absenteeism being the reason for this drawback,” Sen said. He suggested collaboration with social groups and the unions of primary school teachers and healthcare workers to tackle the various problems in the areas of education and healthcare.

Unions in such a situation can help bring extraordinary changes as these teachers themselves would be the members of it and involving them would bring a sense of empowerment and a drive to become more efficient in their work, he added. “There is no room for imaginative thinking when one is struggling with the basics,” he said.

So, a computer per child should not be the target, bringing in more teachers to primary schools, updating the basic infrastructure like providing reading material and laboratories in every school should be the first step in this direction, he added.

“The contribution of basic education to development is not confined to economic progress only. There are other rewards of schooling. Education can have powerful effects on quality of life,” the Nobel laureate said. Mr Sen also emphasised the importance of female literacy. “Female literacy can enhance women’s voice in family affairs, reduce gender inequality and child mortality,” he said.