Big fall in primary school enrollment in Bihar

Patna,(BiharTimes): With 11.6 per cent Bihar witnessed the biggest decline in the school enrollment at the primary level in the country. Madhya Pradesh saw the lowest decline, just 3.9 per cent.

According to the most comprehensive school education report based on District Information of School Education data compiled by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) there has been a marginal fall in the primary school enrollment in the country from 13.7 crore in 2011-12 to 13.4 crore in 2012-13, and 4.8 per cent rise in upper primary enrollment from 6.19 crore to 6.49 crore during the same period.

The fall in primary school enrollment could be attributed to cleaning up drive in several states, especially Bihar, where the guardians got their children enrolled in more than one schools to get more government benefits, such as uniform, mid-day meal, scholarship and bicycle.

In many cases children were enrolled both in government and private schools.

The report said that at primary level, retention rate in the country has increased from 75.9 per cent to 78.65 per cent.

However, upper primary enrollment has increased by 13 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, eight per cent in Sikkim while only six per cent in Bihar and four per cent in Rajasthan.

The enrollment of girls has increased marginally in both primary and upper primary levels. Data also show that 92.14 lakh children in the six-14 age group are still out of school in the country.

The percentage of Muslim enrolment has, like the last year, increased from 12.79 per cent in 2011-12 to 13.52 per cent in 2012-13.

In Delhi, the percentage of Muslim enrolment has increased from 12.5% to 15.5%. UP also showed a substantial increase from 9.6 per cent to 13.2 per cent while Bihar had a decline––14.5 per cent in 2012-13 from 14.7 per cent in 2011-12.