School education in India expensive than university
(source:www.TimesofIndia.com)

Families in India have to spend more on primary school education of their children, making the fundamental right to basic education for the Indian poor a distant dream, according to a recent UNESCO report.

In contrast, university education, which typically helps the better off students, remains subsidised and costs just the half of the primary school spending.

"Households pay for more than one-quarter, 28 per cent, of the cost to send their children to primary and secondary school. This poses a big barrier for the children of poor families," the report 'Global Education Digest 2007', released by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), said.

"Yet at the same time, households assume just 14 per cent of the costs for university education, which typically benefits better off students," it added.

Mapping latest education statistics from primary to tertiary levels in more than 200 countries, the reports focuses on the financing of education and provides a series of indicators to compare spending patterns across countries and levels of education.

The report stressed the need to monitor the balance between public and private expenditure.

"Systems that are overly reliant on private contributions, especially at the primary level of education, raise the risk of excluding students from poorer families," it warns.