COVID-19 effect: 39.7L students moved from pvt to govt schools

Hyderabad: There has been a drop in enrolment of children in pre-primary, class I, and children with special needs (CWSN) due to the closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Enrolment in pre-primary and class I decreased to 29.1 lakh and 18.8 lakh, respectively, in 2020-21, according to the report on Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2020-21 released by the Union ministry of education.

As per the report, the enrolment of CWSN students was 21.69 lakh in 2020-21, a decrease of 3.56%. However, students enrolling from primary to higher secondary is around 25.4 crore, an increase of 28.3 lakh compared to 2019-20. During 2020-21, 39.7 lakh students from government-aided and private school students shifted to government schools.

Rise in enrolment of girls

In 2020-21, more than 12.2 crore girls enrolled in primary and higher secondary showing an increase of 11.8 lakh compared to the enrolment of girls in 2019-20. The numbers are said to be more than the enrolment of boys.

In 2020-21, the total number of students enrolled in schools from primary to higher secondary stood at 25.38 crore showing an increase of 28.32 lakh compared to 25.10 crore enrollment in 2019-20. The gross enrollment ratio (GER) in 2020-21 was 92.2% in upper primary, 99.1% in elementary, 79.8% in secondary, and 53.8% in higher secondary.

Pupil-teacher ratio

The pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) in 2020-21 stood at 26 for primary, 19 for upper primary, 18 for secondary, and 26 for higher secondary, showing an improvement since 2018-19. About 96.96 lakh teachers were engaged in school education during 2020-21. This is higher by about 8,800 in comparison with the number of teachers in 2019-20.

School infrastructure

About 84% of the total schools have electricity as compared to 73.85% in 2018-19. Schools with functional drinking water grew to 95.2% in 2020-21 from 93.7% in 2019-20. Also, schools with functional toilet facilities for girl students increased to 93.91% in 2020-21 while schools with hand-wash facilities went to 91.9% during 2020-21.

The number of schools with functional computers increased to six lakh in 2020-21 showcasing a growth of 3% along with the rise in the number of schools having internet facilities to 3.7 lakh in 2020-21 from 3.36 lakh in 2019-20.

Non-teaching staff

The number of non-teaching staff also improved over the years. Total non-teaching staff during 2020-21 stood at 15.8 lakh as compared to 12.37 lakh in 2018-19. Among the non-teaching staff, the number of accountants, library assistants, laboratory assistants, head clerks, LDC/UDC staff has grown from 5.79 lakh to 7.8 lakh by adding 2.05 lakh from 2018-19 to 2020-21.