As per a survey, Quality Education which is enlisted as Goal 4 under UN SDGs (SDG4) aims to ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ by 2030. It is in this context that the National Education Policy 2020 was laid down as the 1st Education Policy of the 21st century, aiming to address the many growing developmental imperatives of the country. The policy provided revision and revamping of all aspects of the education structure. The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman tabled Economic Survey 2022-23 in Parliament today.
The year FY22 saw improvement in Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER) in schools and improvement in gender parity. GER in the primary-enrolment in class I to V as a percentage of the population in age 6 to 10 years – for girls as well as boys have improved in FY 22. This improvement has reversed the declining trends between FY17 and FY19. GER in Upper Primary (enrolment in class VI to VIII as a per cent of the population in age 11-13 years), which was stagnant between FY17 and FY19, improved in FY22. In corresponding age groups in Primary and Upper-Primary levels, girls’ GER is better than boys.
In FY22, school enrolment stood at 26.5 crore children with 19.4 lakh additional children enrolled in Primary to Higher Secondary levels. Total enrolment of Children with Special Needs (CWSN) in FY22 stands at 22.7 lakh as compared to 21.9 lakh in FY21, which is an increase of 3.3 per cent. The enrolments increased across all levels viz., Primary, Upper-Primary, Secondary, and Higher Secondary except for the Pre-Primary level. At the Pre-primary level, enrolment reduced from 1.1 crore in FY21 to 1.0 crore in FY22. During the year, about 1.0 crore children were enrolled in pre-primary, 12.2 crore in Primary, 6.7 crore in Upper Primary, 3.9 crore in Secondary and 2.9 crore in Higher Secondary. School dropout rates at all levels have witnessed a steady decline in recent years. The decline is for both girls and boys. The schemes such as Samagra Shiksha, RTE Act, improvement in school infrastructure and facilities, residential hostel buildings, availability of teachers, regular training of teachers, free textbooks, uniforms for children, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya and the PM POSHAN Scheme play an important role in enhancing enrolment and retention of children in schools. The education infrastructure in the form of schools, amenities, and digitalisation has been steadily promoted along with a focus on pedagogy. The basic infrastructure facilities in schools – both in terms of the number of recognised schools and teachers’ availability reflected in the Pupil-Teacher Ratio, showed an improvement in FY22. Basic facilities in schools continued to improve in FY22 over earlier years. Toilets (girls or boys), drinking water, and hand-washing facilities are now available in most Government schools. Priority to drinking water and sanitation in schools under Samagra Shiksha Scheme as well as Swachh Bharat Mission have been instrumental in providing required resources and creating these assets in schools. Under the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) component of the Samagra Shiksha Scheme, Government supports the establishment of smart classrooms, and ICT labs in schools, including support for hardware, educational software, and e-content for teaching.
The availability of teachers, measured by pupil-teacher ratio, an indicator which is inversely related to improvement in quality of education, has improved at all levels continuously from FY13 to FY22: from 34.0 to 26.2 at Primary, 23.0 to 19.6 at Upper Primary, 30.0 to 17.6 at Secondary, and 39.0 to 27.1 at the Higher Secondary level. The improvement in the number of schools, teachers’ availability, and facilities in schools is expected to help improve enrolment and reduce dropout rates.
