Abhijit Banerjee lauds Delhi govt schools for outperforming private peers
Mumbai, Jan 11: Education outcomes in state-run schools can be better than the private ones, Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee said on Saturday as he lauded Delhi government schools for "outperforming" their private peers.
He said state agencies have been "generous" with resource allocation for education, which is visible in aspects like teacher salaries and the system, and the focus needs to shift to making them perform better.
The comments from the MIT professor, whose work on poverty alleviation won him the coveted Nobel Prize recently, come weeks ahead of the Delhi polls.
"Do I think that you can aspire to doing better in the government system relative to the average private school? Yes. The Delhi public schools have done it actually. Results in the Delhi public school system, the government school system like the municipal schools are better than the average private school in Delhi, he told reporters here.
Speaking ahead of delivering a lecture at education-focused NGO Pratham's 25th anniversary celebrations, Banerjee said the Delhi government schools have "outperformed" the private ones.
He said private schools are "terrible" from an outcome perspective.
Education is largely a state subject under the federal structure of India, but stretched fiscal situations are generally "bad news" for the sector as lesser resources will be allocated, he said, answering a specific question on a Rs 3,000 crore reduction in the Central government's education allocations.
However, he said rather than financial resources, the Centre's focus should be on reforms in human resource development, University Grants Commission and syllabus setting.
He pitched strongly for leaving syllabus setting to the individual institutions, rather than making it centralised where boards set the syllabi.
There is a need for greater flexibility in the education sector across all aspects, he said, calling the system "very rigid".
"I think the real issue is not money... the education system is very rigid, too rigid. There's almost no flexibility. Pensions, salaries eat up most of the budget. So it's not that you can change very much. You are always committed to paying those things. It's a rather inflexible system," he said.
The economist, who has been a notary of stimulating demand to boost growth, also said that the budget deficit numbers are "a little bit imaginary" and one should not be very concerned about breaching the fiscal gap.
"Budget deficit numbers are a little bit imaginary. So in that sense, I don't think it is a big deal to breach it and certainly I wouldn't be supporting fiscal tightening right now," he said.
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
