GDP and education expenditure

September 3, 2012, 8:04 pm , The Island

One of FUTA demands is that Sri Lankan government should spend six percent of GDP on education.

GDP is the inflation adjusted market value of all goods and services produced (or alternatively, the value of the income generated such as profits and wages) in a country in a given period. The officials in the Department of Census and Statistics who produce these statistics know that social and economic elements not related to consumption and financial income are not measured by GDP. For example, GDP numbers do not always answer the quality of education, joy of university professors’ research findings or the intelligence of FUTA debate on education related expenditure.

By the way, the public spending on education in Australia was reported at 4.43 in 2008 (% of GDP), according to the World Bank. This includes the current and capital public expenditure on education and government spending on educational institutions (both public and private), as well as subsidies for private entities (students/households and other privates entities).

Siri Ipalawatte, Canberra

Email: nirmana@grapevine.com.au