ASHA: South Asia and Education (fwd)

[Subramanya Sastry <sastry@cs.wisc.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 17:10:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: Shanmuga <shanmuga@ee.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: South Asia and Education

 The following excerpt from Oxfam International report is very revealing
and highlights one important aspect of the need for awareness efforts like
Global Peace March that Sandeep is going on right now. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
URL:  http://www.caa.org.au/oxfam/advocacy/education/report/repasia.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------

South Asia's two largest countries, India and Pakistan, are increasing
their military budgets at a time when education is in urgent need of
additional resources.  High military spending carries opportunity costs
for the poorest children, who suffer most from poor quality primary
provision. 

     Pakistan.  Military spending is 25 per cent higher than the health
and education budgets combined.  While the entire education budget
accounts for only 2.7 per cent of GDP, the defence budget absorbs almost
twice this amount.  25% of government spending is on defence; only 4 per
cent is allocated to primary education. 
     Alternatively, the $3.4 billion annual military budget is equivalent
to five times the total projected cost of getting every child into a well
equipped school. There is no sign of military spending falling. The $943m
deal signed in 1997 for three French submarines would be sufficient to
provide the entire financing for achieving universal basic education over
a seven-year period. 

     India. In mid-1998, the Indian Government announced a 14 per cent
increase in defence expenditure, undermining the government's ability to
raise education spending as a proportion of GDP. At present, education
consumes the equivalent of 1.4 per cent of GDP, compared to 2.4 per cent
on military spending. The additional $1.3 billion allocated to the defence
budget in 1998 would be sufficient to construct the 1m schools and hire
the additional 600,000 teachers necessary to achieve universal basic
education by 2005. If only half this sum were spent on primary education
each year, universal basic education would be a reality within seven
years. 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 Asha for Education: http://www.ashanet.org/
  Princeton Chapter: http://www.ashanet.org/princeton/
                     http://www.egroups.com/group/ashaprinceton

 NGOs Archive      : http://www.princeton.edu/~shanmuga/NGO.html
----------------------------------------------------------------