Steady drop in early school leavers, higher enrollment: economics study

New Delhi:

Early school leavers have fallen steadily and enrollments in both education and higher education have fallen steadily, according to the 2022-2023 economic survey submitted to parliament on Tuesday.

Gender equality has also improved this financial year, according to the survey submitted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“Gross enrollment ratios (GER) in primary enrollment in grades 1 to 5 as a percentage of the population aged six to 10 years – for both girls and boys, improved during the fiscal year (FY).”

This improvement has “reversed declining trends between FY-17 and FY-19,” it stated, adding that “the GER in upper elementary education (enrollment in grades 6 to 8 as a percentage of the population aged 11 -13 years), which stagnated between FY-17 and FY-19, improved in FY-22”.

In corresponding age groups in primary and upper primary education, girls’ GER is better than boys’, according to the Economic Survey for 2022-23.

“In FY-22, the number of children enrolled stood at 26.5 crore with 19.4 lakh additional children enrolled in primary to upper secondary education,” it said.

The study found that the total enrollment of children with special needs (CWSN) in FY-22 is 22.7 lakh, compared to 21.9 lakh in FY-21, an increase of 3.3 percent.

“Enrollment increased at all levels – primary, upper primary, secondary and upper secondary except the pre-primary level. At the pre-primary level, enrollment fell from 1.1 crore in FY-21 to one crore in FY-22,” it said.

“During the year, about one crore children were enrolled in pre-primary education, 12.2 crore in primary education, 6.7 crore in upper primary education, 3.9 crore in secondary and 2.9 crore in upper secondary ,” it said.

The number of early school leavers, for both boys and girls, at all levels has been falling steadily in recent years.

Teacher availability, as measured by the student-teacher ratio, an indicator that is inversely related to improvement in the quality of education, has continuously improved at all levels from FY-13 to FY-22, according to the survey.

From FY-13 to FY-22, it improved from 34.0 to 26.2 in primary education, from 23 to 19.6 in upper secondary education, from 30.0 to 17.6 in secondary education, and from 39, 0 to 27.1 on upper secondary education. .

The study found that improving the number of schools, teacher availability and facilities in schools is expected to contribute to increased enrollment and reduced school dropout rates.

“Total higher education enrollment has increased to nearly 4.1 crore in FY-21 from 3.9 crore in FY-20. Since FY-15, there has been an increase of about 72 lakh in enrollment (21 percent). increased to two crore in FY-21 from 1.9 crore in FY-20,” it stated.

“Distance education enrollment is 45.7 lakh (with 20.9 lakh women), an increase of about seven percent since FY-20 and 20 percent since FY-15. The GER in higher education, based on 2011 population projections (revised), was recorded at 27.3 percent in FY-21, which is an improvement from 25.6 in FY-20,” it stated.

The GER for men rose from 24.8 in FY-20 to 26.7 in FY-21, while the GER for women also improved from 26.4 to 27.9 over the same period, the study said.

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