Lure of state-run schools is declining whereas expensive commercial schools are flourishing
The mind-boggling number of government schools which closed down in India per day should be treated as a national crisis. Linked with the closure of government schools is the dropout rate of children. Over 2.25 crore is the figure for enrollment drop in the past decade, as per NITI Aayog.
While it is depressing that the number of government schools is declining, it is a matter of satisfaction that a public institution like NITI Aayog has boldly put forward real figures of a decade, which essentially is the BJP regime. In times when most institutions are being compromised and politics, not professionalism, is dominating governance from culture to Armed Forces and education to environment this report candidly shows mirror to the nation. It would perhaps facilitate fair discussion and may possibly show a way forward if educationists and bureaucrats take it seriously.
Already, the chinks in the New Education Policy (NEP) are showing up and demoralising seasoned teachers in different streams of knowledge. Many college and school teachers have confided in me that the NEP will prove to be a disastrous policy, sooner than later. However, the NEP deserves a fresh analysis and study by independent experts and keen observers of the education system.
NEP will have a deeper impact on our social system as its results will slowly emerge over the next few years. The dropouts, closure of schools, quality of education and creation of knowledge-based society in a globalised competitive world are all dependent on how objectively we deal with the primary and secondary education. The NITI Aayog report Education System in India: Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement says 25 schools per day, on an average, closed down in the decade of 2014-2015 to 2024-25. The figures are startling though the reasons vary from state to state. From the 11.07 lakh schools in 2015, 10.13 lakh remained by 2025. The aided schools also shut down and the number stands at 400 per year.
It does not indicate there are absolutely no facilities available for schooling. The societal scenario has dramatically changed in the past decade witnessing rise in private teaching establishments across the country. How good and affordable are they is anyone’s guess. Is there any correlation between the two? Did the shutting of government schools give birth to private schools? Or private schools have beaten the government in the race owing to their better amenities and infrastructure? I studied in a government school in the 60s which had nice school buses fetching us from our homes and dropping us back; we had a wonderful mid-day meal system, sans any adulteration or issues of a dead lizard or a cockroach found in rice or daal!
I admit that not all were lucky to have been schooled in Indore’s Bal Vinay Mandir or such schools in other parts of the country. I am only underscoring the fact how good were some government schools not so long ago in Maharashtra. Most bureaucrats and judges, journalists and scientists in the 50s through the 70s went to government schools and had best of the teachers who were lowly paid though. Most students succeeded in their respective walks of life, thanks to the basic quality education they received from committed teachers.
The question triggered by the report is thus larger and vexed: Why government is not serious about education? Why its budget, though increasing year on year, is not reaching 6% of GDP which education experts have been demanding for many years? Highest number of schools closed down are from MP and UP –traditional BIMARU states. While state officials claim many schools were merged for one or the other reason or due to population decline reflecting number of closed schools, the nagging issues about declining enrollment and quality of education, as flagged by NITI Aayog, need answers.
Private schools are a roaring business attracting even poor and the middle class. The lure of state-run schools is declining whereas expensive commercial schools are flourishing. Is India embracing privatisation of education on the sly? Is this the sign of Amrit Kaal’ or is it something we are unable to see? The NITI Aayog report must force the government to find out what really ails school education system.
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