The Government aims to raise literacy levels in the country to 80 per cent, the Minister of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Ms D. Purandeswari infomed the Rajya Sabha on Friday. But, India's expenditure on education continues to lag many other developing nations .
At about Rs 2.35 lakh crore, the Government's expenditure on education stood at 3.85 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009-10, the Ms Purandeswari said in a written reply on Friday.
According to World Bank data, in the same year, the expenditure on education in sub-Saharan Ethiopia was 4.6 per cent of GDP, 5.3 per cent in Ghana and 4.6 per cent in Bhutan.
The Minister informed the Upper House that the National Policy of Education, 1986, which was modified in 1992, recommended increasing the investment on education to 6 per cent of the national income at the earliest.
However, on a positive note, Ms Purandeswari said the Centre's expenditure on school education, literacy and higher education increased by over 28 per cent in 2010-11 over 2009-10.
She further informed the Upper House that the country had over 27.29 crore illiterates, according to the Census 2011 and India's literacy rate stands at 74.04 per cent.
Further, the Minister also said, as on January 31, 2012, over Rs 766.97 crore in grants given to Central universities, remained unused.