Over 37 percent schools in India didn't have electricity till March 2017: HRD ministry informs RS

According to the latest statistics from Ministry of Human Resource Development, over 37 percent schools in the country did not have electricity till March 2017. Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Upendra Kushwaha on Thursday, in a written reply to a question from Congress MP Sanjay Singh, citing the the data from Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), said that only 62.81 percent of schools have electricity connection in the country. [caption id=“attachment_3497817” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) annually collects the data on various educational indicators including infrastructural facilities in schools through the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), said the minister. Following are some of the states which score poor on state school electrification chart: Arunachal Pradesh (39.54 percent), Assam (25.55 percent), Bihar (37.78 percent), Jharkhand (19.45 percent), Madhya Pradesh (28.80 percent), Meghalaya (28.54 percent), Tripura (29.77 percent) Chandigarh, Dadara and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, however, portray a promising picture with 100 percent schools having electricity. The Centre, under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), provided support to state governments and Union Territories for electrification of  elementary and secondary schools, Kushwaha said in his reply, according to The Times of India report. “Under SSA, 1,87,248 elementary schools have been provided internal electrification upto 2016-17 and under RMSA, electricity have been provided in 12,930 secondary schools so far,” Kushwaha said. On 13 October last year, DNA had reported that every two in five elementary schools in India lacked playground and power connection.