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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
