In India, about 78 per cent of the schools do not have internet facility and more than 61 per cent do not have computers, according to the latest Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) report.
The report, despite saying that overall infrastructure improved in the education sector in 2019-20, points out that everything is still not that good in the schools.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The report points out that 83.4 per cent of schools in 2019-20 had electric connections. This was 76.7 per cent in 2018-19. Coming to Library, the UDISE report sad that 69.4 per cent of schools in the country had libraries with books in 2019-20. This was just 64.3 per cent in 2018-19. As far as ramp is considered, the report said that it was available in 67.6 per cent of schools in 2019-20. In 2018-19, only 63.7 per cent had ramps.
ENROLLMENT
The report states that total enrollment in schools increased by 1.6 percent in 2019-20 compared to 2018-19. The total enrollment from primary to higher secondary levels was a little over 25.09 Crore. It said that 13.01 Crore boys and 12.08 crore girls got enrolled in 2019-20. This was an increase by more than 26 lakh over 2018-19.
The report mentioned that enrollment at primary level reduced from 13.5 Crore in 2012-13 to 12.2 Crore in 2019-2020 . Meanwhile, enrollment in other levels — upper primary, secondary and higher secondary increased. The report said.
NUMBER OF TEACHERS
The UDISE+ report said that the total number of teachers also showed a healthy increase in 2019- 20 when compared to 2018-19. The total number of teachers in 2019-20 was 96.87 lakh, an increase of more than 2.5 lakh over total teachers in 2018-19 .
The report mentioned that 37 per cent of teachers taught in only primary classes. This was lesser than the 42 per cent in 2018- 19. The reduction of numbers was also seen in upper primary (23 per cent in 2019- 20 from 27 per cent in 2018-19). However, the teachers in pre primary and primary showed an increase (4 per cent in 2019-20, 1 per cent in 2018-19). Similarly, the report said that there was an increase in primary and upper primary (7 per cent in 2019-20 from 3 per cent in 2018-19).
The official statistics showed that the female teachers from 35.8 lakh in 2012-13 increased to 49.2 lakh in 2019-20. It also said that 42.4 lakh male teachers in 2012-13 rose to 47.7 lakh in 2019-20.
Further, the report said that the number of male teachers is more than number of female teachers from upper primary level onward,
GER, GPI AND PTR
The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) compares to the enrollment in a specific level of education to the population of the age group which is age-appropriate for that level of education. The Gender Parity Index (GPI) of GER shows whether the representation of females in school education is in line with representation of girls in population of corresponding age group. The Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) at different levels of education show availability of adequate number of teachers for teaching the children enrolled at different levels of education.
The report stated that the GER of primary was more than 109 per cent in 2012-13, which has come down to about 103.7 per cent in 2019-20. The GER for upper primary in 2019-20 was 89.7 per cent. It was 84.1 per cent in 2012-13. The GER for secondary reached 78 per cent in 2019-20. GER for secondary level was 69.2 per cent in 2012-13. The GER at higher secondary level reached 51.4 per cent in 2019-20 from 40.1 per cent in 2012-13.
The report mentions that the GPI is one or more at all levels of school education. While the GPI at both primary and upper primary was more than one for all the years 2012-13 to 2019-20, the GPI at both secondary and higher secondary improved during this period.
The PTR for primary reached 26.5 in 2019-20, which was 34.0 in 2012-13. The maximum improvement was observed in higher secondary which improved to 26.1 in 2019-20 from 39.2 in 2012-13