Schools Retaining More Kids, Enrolment up by 19L: Report

What’s in today’s article:

• About UDISE and UDISE+
• News Summary

Why in news?

• According to the recent Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data released by the Ministry of Education for the academic year 2021-22, India’s school system has been able to retain more students over time.
• Total enrollment in 2021-22 was slightly more than 25.57 crore, an increase of more than 19 lakh over 2020-21, with more than 8 lakh girl students.

The Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE):

About UDISE:

• Initiated in 2012-13 by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, UDISE is one of the largest Management Information Systems on School Education.
• It integrates the District Information System for Education for elementary and secondary education.
• It covers more than 1.5 million schools, more than 9.6 million teachers and more than 264 million children.

About UDISE+:

• It is an updated and improved version of UDISE, developed in the year 2018-19, with online data collection from the schools, to overcome the issues related to manual data filling.
• Inclusion of name of a school in any of the lists in the UDISE+ does not confer the status of recognition to the school by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.
• Significance:
  • Well-functioning and Sustainable Educational Management Information System is of utmost importance today, as the timely and accurate data is the basis of sound and effective planning and decision-making. 

News Summary – Highlights of the UDISE+ data for the academic year 2021-22:

• Total number of schools: In 2021-22, it stood at 14. 9 lakhs as compared to 15 lakhs in 2020-21. This decline is mainly due to closure of private and other management schools and grouping/clustering of schools by various states.
  • Among schools that shut down, the share of private schools was 24% and government schools were 48%.
• Enrollment in government schools:
  • The trend of children switching from private to public schools deepened over the last fiscal year, demonstrating the economic burden of the pandemic, defined by job losses and wage cuts.
  • The period saw enrollment in government schools increased by 83.35 lakh throughout the time, while enrollment in private schools decreased by 68.85 lakh.
  • Uttar Pradesh witnessed the highest number of enrolment of students in government schools and recruitment of teachers.
• The pupil teacher ratio: It has improved between 2018-19 and 2021-22 across different levels of school education as the total teachers in 2018-19 was 94.3 lakh which increased to 95 lakhs in the year 2021-22.
• The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER): GER, which denotes enrollment in a certain level of education as a fraction of the population in the age-group most age-appropriate for that level of education, decreased marginally at the secondary level while rising across the other levels.
• The Gender Parity Index (GPI): GPI shows the representation of females in school education in line with representation of girls in the population of corresponding age groups.
  • Its values are one or more at all levels of school education, signifying greater participation of girls in school education.
  • Over 12. 3 crore girls are enrolled in primary to higher secondary in 2021-22, a rise of 8. 2 lakhs over the enrollment of girls in 2020-21.
• Overall school infrastructure: It has improved, especially in availability of electricity, drinking water facilities, computers, internet and toilets for children with special needs.

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