'Disturbing trend': Centre flags low enrolment in Telangana government schools
During a recent Project Approval Board (PAB) meeting of the Samagra Shiksha Scheme, the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education (MoE), noted that despite substantial funding and expenditure, students continue to move away from government schools, a trend it described as disturbing.
The Centre urged the state government to conduct a thorough analysis of the underlying causes and take corrective measures to reverse this trend.
The Union government pointed out that government schools account for only 38.11% (27.8 lakh) of the total enrolment, compared to 60.75% (44.31 lakh) in private schools. Data from 2018–19 to 2023–24, excluding the Covid-affected year of 2021–22, shows a steady rise in private school enrolments.
Telangana has a total of 41,901 schools, of which 30,022 (70%) are government-run and 12,126 (28.26%) are private-run.
The PAB minutes further revealed that in 2023–24, the number of schools with zero enrolment increased compared to the previous year.
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