December Activity – Budget Allocation

1. Students will be able to comprehend how the budgets are allocated by government.

1. Students will be able to describe their understanding of how the budgets are allocated by government.

• Skills - Communication, Critical Thinking
• Values- Fairness, Empathy

Blank sheet/rough paper, pens.

 Session 1: For a 45 min session Step 1-3

​​Step 1 – Introduction​ 

Time: (10 Min)  

Teacher will ask the students the following questions: 

• 1. Which are some of the functions of our local government body?
• Ans: Keeping cities clean, taking care of water supply, streetlights, maintaining parks and gardens etc.  
• 2. Providing and running all these services requires a lot of money. Where does the Gram Panchayat/Municipal Corporation get this money?
• Ans: Taxes. 
• 3. Which are some of the taxes that central/state government collects? 
• Ans: Income Tax, GST, property tax, etc.  
• 4. What is Tax? 
• Ans: A tax is a sum of money that people pay to the government for the services the government provides. 

Teacher will then tell the students, in today’s activity we will in four groups look at four different areas of a village/town or city and try to understand the process of budget allocation. 

​​Step 2 – Group Activity ​ 

Estimated Time (30 Mins) 

1. Divide the class into 4 group and assigning one area to each group. The Area details are given in Annexure 1. (Teacher can display if smart board is available or can ask Office bearers/students to create this table beforehand) 

2. Explain the students for this activity to imagine this classroom is a village/town/city. Each of the 4 groups is a local area under the Gram Panchayat/Municipal Corporation. (Depends on the locality teacher selects) So, group 1 is Area 1, group 2 is Area 2, group 3, is Area 3 and group 4, is Area 4. All areas are roughly the same size.  

(Teacher can choose as per the area for it be Municipality Ward or Gram Panchayat Zilla. Also, in grade 6 & 7 , students have read about the both the local governments structure and functioning in detail.) 

3. Teacher will then tell students we assume that majority of all citizens in all wards have paid the required taxes to the government as applicable. Now the government has sent part of that tax money to the local government body to help keep our city clean and safe. The amount allocated is total of 10,00,000 rupees for all four areas. (Area Zero is given for example purpose) 

4. In groups, elect one group representative. Each group will get 10 minutes to decide what are the problems of your area to focus on, & what should be budget allocation for your area & other Areas. As done, the groups can write it on Blackboard. (Refer to Annexure 1 and 2 for Example)

5. Ask each group to select one member to write their options on Board in the table. Tell they have 5 mins for this.  

6. Invite the four representatives to discuss the best way to divide this budget while one group member is writing problems in the table. Give them 5-7 minutes to discuss and present the solution. They can have this discussion in the front of the class so that the rest of the class can observe it. (Teacher will need facilitate and sum the discussion up trying to reach consensus in group) 

Note: Please inform the representatives that we are not deciding how much to spend on what services, we just have to decide what portion (in percentage) of the total should be allocated to each area looking at the needs. 

7. Ask them to share what they decided and why. 

​​Step 3 – Debrief ​ 

Estimated Time (5-7 Mins) 

Ask students the following questions to debrief the activity:  

1. How many of you agree with the budget allocation decided by representatives and why? 
2. How many of you disagree with the budget allocation decided by representatives and why? 
3. What parameters the representative must have thought about while diving the budget in all areas? 
4. How will the government get revenue for this budget allocation? What is the role of citizen in it? 

Reflection Sheets, Activity Report & Feedback Form   

Teachers kindly fill in the feedback form, remind office bearers to fill activity report and remind students also to fill up the reflection sheets.

https://bit.ly/3GSM5a5

Annexure 1 – CASE

Annexure 2 – Example

Annexure 1

Annexure 2