Bihar school education budget higher than national average

Bihar's school education budget is 5.6 per cent of its gross state domestic product, which is higher than the national average of 2.7 per cent of GDP, according to a study by a leading NGO. 

The national average has been stagnant since last four years (2012-13 to 2015-16), the period for which the study was conducted by Child Rights and You (CRY).

Mohua Chatterjee, Programme Head of CRY, East, told reporters here that Bihar spends 17.7 per cent of its total budget on school education but it needs to increase its overall spending keeping in mind the small size of budget compared to some bigger states, a study by an NGO said.

The study conducted in association with Centre for Budgets, Governance and Accountability (CGBA) examined in detail the overall scenario of school budget of 10 states - Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

Among the 10 study states, Bihar spends 17.7 per cent of its total budget in school education and is only behind Maharashtra which spends 18 per cent on it, the study said.

The state spends only a meagre amount of Rs 9,583 per student compared to Rs 32,263 per student spent by Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country, she said quoting the study.