As per the Indian Education Investment Report 2013, the education market demands investments of USD 100 billion for construction and provisioning of education facilities. Especially in K-12 and higher education segments. The current spending on education stands at Rs1,035 per month for an urban household and Rs293 for a rural household. However, consumers are willing to spend even higher amounts if given access to quality education. This has brought many players to the forefront.
According to Amit Gupta, CEO of S Chands, “In a country like India which is one of the emerging education markets, especially due to the upcoming generation who is willing to explore more and also due to the demographic dividends, investment in this sector has become a major issue. There exist certain gaps which are to be filled by the Government and private entities in order to sustain the overall ecosystem. The education sector should also be prioritised in a similar manner as the infrastructure sector is. The return on education should be good, and the Government should work on the tax incentives for teachers. Also, the Government should spend high on sustaining and developing common education across Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities,” Gupta tells you.
For him, education is not just a business but a cause. This sector to develop requires commitment by the Government and other players. But investment is one such factor that has evolved from a very long time. “The private investment has been here in India from a very long time. Earlier, it was more of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. What is happening these days is that the demand of funds is so huge in every sector, that there has to be an investment. When you invest in education from a business perspective, it’s the combination of the CSR and a return, along with security and policies,” Gupta says.
According to statistics, by 2015, India would be the youngest population with over 100 million population entering into the work field.
“These 100 million people can not be employed in India itself. If we skill all these people, the employment statistics would improve as they would manage to get a job abroad. While investing in the education sector, one needs to think about what return they are looking forward to. Unfortunately what is happening in our country is that the Centre decides the investment policy of education. As far as the State is concerned, there is a huge disconnect.
“The need of the hour, therefore, is that the Centre and the State should work in collaboration for the benefit of this sector,” Gupta concludes.