Education satellite accounts: a framework

Given the low levels of literacy that India had at the time of independence, successive governments focused on education by constituting committees and prescribing limits of public expenditure on education. Sarvashikshya Abhiyan and Right to Education (RTE) are some of these main initiatives from the government but a lot of private initiative and expenditure is also coming up in this sector especially in the higher education and in urban areas. The National Accounts is unable to include these expenditures appropriately due to lack of data. Education satellite accounts is one of the means of taking a holistic look at the sector in terms of its contribution to the economy. However, there have been no guidelines from the international agencies on the methodology to compile satellite accounts on education. The CSO took the initiative to constitute a committee under the chairmanship of Shri Ramesh Kolli, former Additional Director General in the CSO to formulate guidelines on the tables to be compiled as part of education satellite accounts. This paper highlights those tables.