Govt schools declined by 8% and private schools up by 14% in last 10 years

Govt schools declined by 8% and private schools up by 14% in last 10 years
Govt schools declined by 8% and private schools up by 14% in last 10 years

Story by Raksha Bhattacharjee

The combined decrease of 25,126 in Uttar Pradesh and 29,410 in Madhya Pradesh accounted for 60.9% of the 89,441 drop in government schools.

NEW DELHI:

The administration informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that during the last ten years, from 2014–15 to 2023–24, the number of government schools had an 8% decrease while private schools saw a 14.9% increase.

The number of government schools decreased by 89,441 from 11,07,101 in 2014–15 to 10,17,660 in 2023–24, while the number of private schools increased by 42,944 from 2,88,164 to 3,31,108 during the same time frame.

State show increase and reduction of private and Government school

Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh saw declines of 29,410 and 25,126, respectively, with these two states accounting for 60.9% of the 89,441 reduction in government schools. There are now 42,944 private schools nationwide, with Uttar Pradesh alone accounting for 44.9% of the growth with 19,305 new schools.


In response to questions about school closures and mergers posed by Rachna Banerjee, Lok Sabha MP from West Bengal’s Hooghly, Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (MoS) for Education, shared data showing that Madhya Pradesh is the top state and union territory (UT) with a decline of 24.1% from 1,21,849 in 2014-15 to 92,439 in 2023-24.

Madhya pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir decrease in government schools

Following Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir had a 21.4% decrease in government schools, from 23,874 in 2021–15 to 18,758 in 2023–2024. Government schools in Odisha fell 17.1% from 58,697 to 48,671 during that time, Arunachal Pradesh saw a 16.4% decline from 3,408 to 2,847, Uttar Pradesh saw a 15.5% decline from 1,62,228 to 1,37,102,

Jharkhand saw a 13.4% decline from 41,322 to 35,795; Nagaland saw a 14.4% decline from 2,279 to 1,952; Goa saw a 12.9% decline from 906 to 789, and Uttarakhand saw an 8.7% decline from 17,753 to 16,201. In contrast, Bihar’s government school count rose by 5% from 74,291 in 2014–15 to 78,120 in 2023–24.

The minister stated that “the opening, closing, and rationalization of schools are within the purview of respective state government and UT administration” and that education is on the Constitution’s concurrent list, but he did not elaborate on the cause of the government schools’ decrease.

Right of children to free and compulsory Education Act

Under the 2009 Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, children are entitled to attend primary schools within their neighborhood’s boundaries. He stated that every State has notified the area or boundaries of its neighborhood regulations in accordance with Section 6 of the RTE Act.

The RTE Act’s Section 6 mandates that schools be built within a specific radius of children’s homes by the government and local governments. School mergers, teacher rationalization, and teacher education changes were highlighted by NITI Aayog earlier in November 2023 as crucial steps to improve learning results

Private Institutions

With Bihar leading the way at 179.14%, from just 3,284 private schools in 2014–15 to 9,167 private schools in 2023–24, ten states have surpassed the 14.9% national increase in private school enrollment. Over the same time frame, the number of private schools in Odisha rose from 3,350 to 6,042, an 80.36% increase.

In Uttar Pradesh, the number of private schools increased from 77,330 to 96,635—a 24.96% rise. The number of private schools has decreased in three states and union territories. Meghalaya has had the biggest decrease, going from 2,274 to 2,152, followed by Delhi, which saw a decrease of 2.88% from 2,641 to 2,565, and Himachal Pradesh, which saw a decrease of 0.27% from 2,614 to 2,607.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Share now