Only 20.8% TS schools had internet facilities during academic year 2019-20: Report
According to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) report, of the over 42,575 schools in the state only 8,859 had internet during the academic year 2019-20. Out of these, 6,277 were private schools.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 4 July 2021 5:45 AM GMT
Hyderabad: During the academic year 2019-20, before students stopped going to schools, only 20.81 per cent of schools in Telangana had internet facilities. According to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) report, of the over 42,575 schools in the state only 8,859 had internet during the academic year 2019-20. Out of these, 6,277 were private schools.
The need for digital infrastructure skyrocketed after the pandemic. All schools, whether government or private, were shut down for over nine months as classes went online. The vast majority of school-going children faced issues due to the non-availability of mobile devices and internet. Similarly, teachers had to spend from their pocket for internet for the online classes.
The report also found that only 15,048 (35.34%) schools have working computer infrastructure. In states like Kerala, more than 90% of schools had access to working computers. Overall, only 22% of schools in India had internet facilities.
The UDISE+ report which was released by the ministry of education said of the 42,575 schools in Telangana, 30,001 (70.5%) are government schools while 11,688 (27.5%) are private schools.
Though there is a huge disparity between the number of government schools and private schools, more students are enrolled in private schools. Of the total 69,37,640 students enrolled in various schools, 39,84,609 (57.4%) were enrolled in private schools while 28,37,635 (40.9%) were enrolled in government schools.
The report also said that there are 3,05,597 school teachers in Telangana, of which 1,52,298 (49.8%) teach in government schools while 1,48,814 (48.7%) are in private schools.
Enrollment wise, there is a huge gap between the number of boys and girls in TS schools. Around 35,63,960 boys are enrolled while 33,73,680 girls are enrolled in schools. Category wise, most of the students come from Other Backward Classes (34,45,224), while 15,73,415 students belong to the general category, 11,74,261 to Schedule Communities, and 7,44,740 to Schedule Tribes.
Four per cent of schools in the state still do not have toilet facilities for girl students while 4% schools don't have libraries, the report found.
