FINANCES
Making the money travel farther
Open School began with a modest budget of Rs. 40,000 in 1979. Since it was meant to cater to the disadvantaged, the registration fee was kept as low as only Rs. 5 and the course fee was Rs. 25 per subject, which was far from enough to pay even postage charges for dispatch of materials to the students. The course fee was raised to Rs. 40 in 1984. In 1990, the fees were further raised to Rs. 50 for registration (for all) and Rs. 300 (consolidated) for registration and four subjects at the Secondary and Rs. 400 for four subjects, including the registration fee, at the Senior Secondary level.
Due to the rapid increase in student enrolment, the income also increased, even though women, Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes, the handicapped and war veterans were exempted from payment of course fees, upto the Secondary. Except for women, who pay half fees at the Senior Secondary, the other exempted categories do not pay course fees even at the Senior Secondary level. This provision of exemption from course fees was introduced from 1987-88 onwards. The ratio of women candidates, seeking admission to the NOS kept increasing and stood at 37% in 1989-90. The
total percentage of all categories exempted from course fees was 58. clearly indicating that the NOS was actually able to reach. to a large measure, the educationally and socio-economically deprived sections of society.
The income for the institution rose from a modest Rs. 1.13 lacs in 1980-81 to Rs. 107.67 lacs in 1989-90.
The Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi, which initiated the Open School project, also supported the deficit, from its-own funds till March, 1983. Since then, the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, meets the net deficit over income, through a grant-in-aid.
The grant-in-aid received is as follows:
( Rs. in Lacs )
1983-84 nil
1984-85 33.60
1985-86 47.00
1986-87 60.00
1987-88 69.35
1988-89 72.00
1989-90 87.78
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Statement showing the actual incomes and expenditures and per capita (by dividing total expenditure by the number of students on the current active list.)
STATEMENT SHOWING ACTUAL INCOME, EXPENDITURE AND PER CAPITA COST
Year Income Expenditure
(Rs.) (Rs.)
1981-82 1,13,654.88 12,06,243.73
1982-83 5,11,927.91 25,65,035.19
1983-84 8,75,926.71 32,24,927.54
1984-85 19,14,000.00 44,54,000.00
1985-86 21,93,276.95 68,93,649.67
1986-87 32,35,230.83 92,47,714.51
1987-88 34,79,224.83 101,94,049.39
1988-89 45,23,413.62 105,00,859.77
1989-90 107,66,627.66 200,51,661.60
No. of Students Remarks
Enrolled Per Capita Cost
(Rs.) (Gross)
1678.00 718.85
3162.00 811.20
5038.00 640.12
7560.00 589.15
10214.00 674.92
13170.00 702.18
16587.00 614.58
41573.00 252.58
36117.00 555.18
The following diagram shows the average percentage out of the total average budget expenditure on different heads.
NOS envisages acquiring financial self-sufficiency within a span of five years, namely by 1995, except for major capital investment items such as land and construction of buildings.
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