India slashed education budget after pandemic

This picture has been used for representational purpose

Education budgets were cut by 65 per cent of low and lower-middle income countries after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic while only 33 per cent of high and upper-middle income countries did so, according to a report by the World Bank.

The report, compiled in collaboration with UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring Report, said the current levels of government spending in low and lower-middle income nations fall short of those required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

"In order to understand the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education budgets, information was collected for a sample of 29 countries across all regions. The sample represents about 54 per cent of the world's school and university aged population. The datat collected was then verified with World Bank country teams," it added.

The sample includes three low-income nations (Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Uganda); 14 lower-middle income nations (Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Tanzania, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); 10 upper-middle income nations (Argentina, Brazil, Jordan, Peru, Colombia, Russia, Mexico, Turkey Indonesia, Kazakhstan); and two high-income nations (Chile, Panama). "The following countries have education shares below 10 per cent and therefore are likely to have other main financing sources besides budget assigned by the central government: Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, India, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Russia," the report stated.

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No. of nations in World Bank's post-COVID impact study

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