Kapil Sibal\'s " US $ 1.52 Trillion " Disasterous Execution Plan for Education

[busybric]

Sirs,

Under Kapil Sibal's leadership , the RTE Act as envisaged today, is going to cost the country Rs 69 Lakh Crores ( Rs 2.3 Lakh Crores each year ) over the next 30 years. while allowing for a capacity expansion that will provide for 8 - 10 Million dis-advantaged Children ( net addition mostly by forcing private schools through legislation ) upto the class VIII level.

Given its current commitments within the Govt School system ( SSA system ), most of this money will be spent on OPEX items such as Salaries and Maintenance ). Therefore the Government's RTE Scheme does not have a specific plan to build the massive number of New Schools & Teacher Training Institutes that are so urgently required, especially at the secondary level where there is a shortage of 5,50,000 ( 5.5 Lakh ) schools in India according to the Planning Commission. Children are dropping out of school after class V because there are no schools to go to .

Essentially, under Kapil Sibal's plan, India will be spending Rs 69 Lakh Crores ( US $ 1.52 Trillion) over 30 years, without any significant CAPEX PLAN to build new schools. Significantly, new school construction is left to the state Govt's which do not have any money. In fact even the 8 - 10 Million children ( addition ) mentioned above is being achieved by asking existing private schools to accomodate dis-advantaged children in a manner which kills private enterprise in education.

By 2018 , according to the Indian 2011 Census document and an earlier 2007 WHO Report , over 300 Million ( Three Hundred Million ) young people are going to enter the Job market in India. There are no large projects to employ these young people, 70 % of who have not studied beyond class V, and Govt of India is talking about being able to sustain a US $ 4.5 Trillion Economy ( assuming an 8.5 % ) GDP growth rate with a workforce that has not studied beyond class V. Already the first 5 % of these young people have started arriving on the street ... Imagine what will happen when the balance 95 % arrive.

It is therefore suicidal to have a Non Existent Capex Plan for New School Construction... but India is doing this ... and NO ONE is even questioning either the Planning Commission or Mr Kapil Sibal / Ministry of HRD about what is clearly a " Cockamanie " Implementation of the well meaning RTE Act.

A totally different Type and Scale of thinking is required to solve the serious problems of school and teacher shortages in India.


Introducing ... The Indian Education Megaproject

It may interest readers to know that an alternative project " The Indian Education Megaproject " has been submitted to the Planning Commission and the Ministry of HRD in June 2010 which Creates additional, world class Capacity within the school system on a massive scale while improving accessibility and greatly reducing cost of Education in India. The Megaproject plan actally has been uploaded into Mr. Kapil Sibal's office computer by his secretary Mr. V Uma Shankar ( IAS ) in my presence,when I went to meet him.

It is essentially a centrally sponsored scheme where the Central Govt Steps in ... to assist state Govt's in the construction of thousands of new schools and then lets them operate the schools as Education is a State Subject under the constituton.

The Education Megaproject has the following defining characteristics :

1. Megaproject will build 30,000 New Schools across 28 states and 7 Union Territories & Share its Teachers with 420,000 existing Schools ... to cover an additional 126 Million Children till class XII by 2024. Focus will be on Secondary Education.

2. Budgetary Support Required for Operations over 30 years is Rs 4.84 Lakh Crores ( 1/15 th the budgetary burden of the RTE Act ) as the Project uses alternative financing and does not need much central or state budgetary support. The Project's Capex of Rs 6 Lakh Crores is also funded by 14 different sources outside the Governments Balance Sheet. Those interested may refer to the 50 page financing supplement on the link below to see how Rs 6 Lakh Crores can be raised.

http://www.nataraja.org.in/site_includes/documents/Indian%20Education%20Megaproject_Financing_Structuring_And_Control_Concepts.pdf

3. Project is Market Friendly and encourages New Schools...All 30,000 New Schools are under PPP. The Innovation within the Megaproject is in its Financing.


In the Article on the link below " Can we do better than the RTE Act " , the Right To Education Act ( RTE Act ) has been compared with the Indian Education Megaproject on 12 Different Parameters.


Please visit :

http://www.slideshare.net/Ashish.Puntambekar/kapil-sibals-us-152-trillion-disasterous-execution-plan-for-indian-education


In fact, to implement the spirit of the Right to Education, It makes sense to go for a Project based solution that expands the School System in India on a Massive Scale. Such a project based implementation will also encourage private sector participation in a meaningful way.


Sincerely,


Ashish Puntambekar
Project Designer, The Indian Education Megaproject
http://www.nataraja.org.in/masseducationproject.htm ... Please visit link to download all project documents including
detailed Excel Calculations


The Author is a Corporate Planner and Large Project Design Specialist with a fortune 500 company. He has 20 years of experience in the Energy and Infrastructure Sectors ( Refineries, LNG Terminals, Ports, Pipelines, Power plants with CO2 sequestration etc ) besides 5 years of hands on experience in Trading Crude Oil and Product financial derivatives on all OTC Markets and Exchanges around the world. He is a published author with papers on the Geopolitics of Crude Oil and security of South Asia. His current interests are in Education, Healthcare and Urban Development in the Large Project Design Area where his focus is on Financial Innovation to raise cash required for large public projects. His latest project is the Mumbai Megaproject, a US $ 308 Billion investment plan for Mumbai and Maharashtra. http://www.nataraja.org.in/site_includes/documents/Mumbai_Megaproject_Presentation_24_September_2011.pdf

The Indian Education Megaproject is a private initiative launched under the aegis of the Nataraja Foundation where the author works for his 8th Std schoolteacher Mr. S Natarajan, who commissioned the Education Megaproject exercise. Views expressed are personal.