State Of Education & Health Sectors In India

Education and health infrastructure are two essential components for any growing nation, and India needs them the most. As a bridge between the East and West, India has the potential to become a future world leader. Education plays a crucial role in pushing the young generation to work towards the growth of the nation. Past philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Locke emphasized the importance of education in maintaining stability and ensuring growth in a nation. In addition, primary healthcare is equally important for building a happy and prosperous society, not only for several people but also as a comprehensive mode of inclusion taken by the government to salvage the need for proper healthcare of its people.Amartya Sen, in his book ‘Poverty and Income Distribution in India,’ states that freedom depends on economic capacity. To develop economic capacity, the government’s role must focus on quality education and universal healthcare. However, since independence, India has faced significant challenges in both the education and health sectors. To meet these challenges, several provisions have been embedded in the constitution, providing for proper education and healthcare. Under the directive principles of state policy, free and fair education was made compulsory for all children from the age of 6 to 14 years (Article 45). Later, article 45 was amended to make pre-primary education up to 6 years of age compulsory. Public health was also underlined in the same provision, with Article 47 stating that the state should take steps to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and improve public health as one of its primary duties.Different regimes have revitalized the education and health sector of India from time to time. The mid-day meal scheme (Roshan scheme) was launched in 1995, providing healthy and safe nutritional food to primary and middle school children in rural areas. under this scheme, 9.78 crore children in 11.40 lakh schools got benefited (as per 2016-17 data).The Ayushman Bharat -Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) was launched in 2018, aiming to provide a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families that form the bottom 40% of the Indian population. The central government launched Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2001, making elementary education from 6 to 14 years a fundamental right under Article 21-A of the Indian constitution through the 86th amendment 2002. More recently, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian education and health sector were badly affected. In response, several initiatives were launched by the government to keep both sectors in operation, such as the E-Sanjeevani scheme, an online portal that offered online consultation of doctors to lakhs of patients in the country.
The government brought an E-learning initiative that provided online education to millions of underprivileged students in the country.The new education policy of 2020 is another historical milestone that changed the education system of the country holistically by giving equal importance to creativity and innovation and striving to transform India into a “vibrant knowledge society” over the next decade. However, thousands of rural areas in India are yet to cherish the taste of primary education and health dispensaries. With India hosting a G20 presidency in 2023 under the theme of “one earth one family one future” and aspiring to become a Vishwa guru in Amrit kamal, this is a unique opportunity to use this platform to shape universal education and healthcare systems and create more action-oriented schemes to achieve an inclusive, equitable, sustainable, and healthy India. In conclusion, education and health care are two fundamental pillars that are crucial for the overall development of any nation. Since independence, India has made significant progress in improving these sectors, but there is still a long way to go. Despite the efforts of the government, a large portion of the population in rural areas is still deprived of basic education and healthcare facilities. The need of the hour is to create more action-oriented schemes and initiatives that cater to the needs of the most marginalized sections of society. As India moves towards its goal of becoming a Vishwa guru and a global leader, it is important to prioritize education and health care as the primary focus areas.
(The author is a student of PG Department of Political Science at Jamia Millia Islamia University Delhi. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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