Enrolments in UP govt schools decline; private school admissions go up by 36.5 percent: CAG

Lucknow: The number of students enrolled in government-run primary and upper primary schools in Uttar Pradesh has declined from 3.71 crore in 2012-13 to 3.64 crore in 2015-16. According to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), enrolments in private-unaided schools increased by 36.5 percent between 2010 and 2016, whereas government schools registered a decline of 18.6 percent. [caption id=“attachment_3211046” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The CAG report on general and social sectors for financial year 2015-16 was tabled in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly recently. It states that on an average there were 20 lakh drop-outs every year between 2010 and 2016, but the state government claims that the average was 0.63 lakh. “In the 428 school checked by the audit team, against the enrolment of 51,649 children, the attendance on the day of joint physical verification was just 13,861 which comes to 27 percent,” the report said. The CAG also found that 6.22 lakh children in the state were not provided school books during 2012-16 despite it receiving adequate funds under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA). The state-run schools had a shortage of 1.75 lakh teachers as against the sanctioned strength of 7.60 lakh. Further, the teachers were not deployed rationally as 17,732 primary schools and 1,349 upper primary schools with an enrolment of more than 150 students did not meet the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR), while 7,264 primary schools and 2,377 upper primary schools with less than 50 students exceeded the PTR. Even six years after the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 119 teachers posted in primary schools and 30,730 in upper primary schools did not possess the required qualification during the evaluation period even though the act requires that all teachers without the minimum qualification should acquire it within five years, the report said. The UP government provided only one set of uniform to the children under the SSA during 2011-12, though two set of uniforms were approved under the project and fund were released accordingly. “Further, uniforms were not provided to 97 lakh children during 2012-16 despite availability of sufficient funds,” the report said.