Pointing out that the budget for children—which means plans and schemes benefiting children— has remained stagnant and dismal at just over 3 per cent of the Union budget for the past five years, NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) has demanded exponential increase in the budget this time if India wants to meet the sustainable development goals (SDG) by the year 2030.
In a statement issued ahead of the tabling of Union budget 2020-21, CRY India has said the budget needs to increase funding for protection, healthcare and education to improve country’s child development index.
The organisation, that works for child rights in India, has said small incremental increases in funding for child-centric programmes are not enough to bring in sustainable change in the overall child development scenario in the country, and hence there should be exponential increase in budgetary allocations.
Puja Marwaha, the chief executive officer of CRY, said, “Government of India has set forth targets on critical indicators for children across thematic areas such as education, health, nutrition, development and protection, as stated in the National Plan of Action for Children (2016). Further, with advent of the 2030 sustainable development goals, India’s progress in key goals such as poverty and hunger, healthcare, education and access to water and sanitation are seen as crucial for its emerging future.”
“We hope that the Union budget 2020-21 will show a positive intent for the child, both in letter and spirit. Children need a safe, protecting and enabling environment in which they can learn, grow and develop to their full potential. Translated in terms of deliverables, it needs well designed interventions and adequate investment in these endeavours,” Marwaha said.
CRY India has also pointed out five major areas where the upcoming budget has to increase funding.
Investing in a robust secondary school education system
The education system of India continues to focus more on primary education with substantially higher number of primary schools as compared to upper primary and secondary levels of schooling. The impact of less number of schools available at higher standards is clearly visible. Especially as children reach secondary education, school dropout rates show a sudden spike, from 4.13 per cent at primary level to 17.06 per cent at secondary level. If India has to meet the SDG goal in ensuring that all children have access to equitable, free and quality primary and secondary education by 2030, it needs to invest considerably in its educational system, the organisation has said.
Building pre-primary school education system
Pre-primary or early childhood education is where the foundation of learning is laid. Since a majority of states currently have not made provisions for pre-school education, whether through Anganwadis or downward extension of school system, there is a substantial quantum of work to be done. All these requirements indicate the need for adequate investment.
Emphasising ground action on reduction of child malnutrition
Poshan Abhiyan, launched in 2018, is intended to cover all districts across the country, with an overall target of reduction in stunting among young children from 38.4 per cent (NFHS-4) to 25 per cent by 2022. Yet, on-ground implementation continues to be patchy and the pace of progress across districts is slow (NITI Aayog , 2019). This ambitious target can only be achieved through adequate administrative support and prioritisation, and overcoming delays in technological and infrastructural support through multi-stakeholder actions.
Ensuring comprehensive interventions for adolescent girls
Ensuring health and nutrition status of girls before pregnancy, combating child marriage, continued schooling and life skill education and skilling opportunities can break this cycle of early motherhood and consequent inter-generational malnutrition.
A systemic approach in preventing child marriages
A systemic approach at improving gender parity in schooling, incentivising skill based opportunities for girls and improving gender participation and safety in work and social support needs urgent exploration. The existing child protection system falls short of providing prevention services, and adequate investment is needed to develop supportive mechanisms that would be helpful in addressing the issue in a meaningful way. The child protection budgets are still more service focused though more investments are required on prevention, rehabilitation and restoration.
