Bhopal: Condition of schools in tribal dominated districts is abysmal. They are not only having skewed student-teacher ratio but also lack many basic facilities. And while, for many, inadequate number of computers is a sign of backwardness, non-availability of power supply remains one of the major issues at the schools here.
In surplus electricity state, only 27.2% schools have electricity; despite that funds for electrification were cut by Rs 5 crores this year. These are facts highlighted in a survey report of District Information System for Education (DICE). National University of Education Planning and Administration, a body constituted under Human Resource Department of Union government releases a report every year district wise and state wise. The analysis of the report was done by Bindas Bol organisation that works for child rights.
The survey report has analysed the government schools on parameters of net enrolment ratio, student-teacher ratio, school dropout kids and infrastructure. According to the DICE report (2016-17) MP had overall 1,43,584 schools out of which 1,14,326 are government and 27,562 are private while 1696 were madarsas.
Number of government schools came down by 1067 in comparison to previous year. Highest number of schools were closed in Morena district (255), followed by Jabalpur (71), Bhind (65), Shivpuri (61) and Indore (60). Private schools have benefited out of this situation, pointed out the report. The net enrolment ratio in MP is 78.62 at primary level and 70.29 at middle level which means that 21.38% children at primary level and 29.71% at middle level were devoid of going to school.
Another worrying trend observed in the report was increase in numbers of single-teacher schools. In the year 2016-17 number of such schools were 19,132 about a thousand more in comparison to previous year. Situation is worse in tribal dominated areas as far as single-teacher schools are concerned. Alirajpur has 31.5% single teacher schools while Dindori has 28.3%, Mandla 27% and Jhabua’s 26.8% schools are on run by one teacher. Bhopal and Indore have 3.6 and 3.4% single teacher schools.
MP also lags behind in teacher-student ratio. According to RTE (Right to Education) norms ideal ratio should be 30:1. In MP 19.64% schools the ratio increases above 30 students. Most of the schools where teacher-student ratio is too bad are present in tribal dominated districts. Jhabua ranks worst in teacher-student ratio in MP where students exceed more than 30 in 56.59% schools of the district. Other tribal dominated areas include Singrauli, Alirajpur, Umaria, Shahdol, Betul and Dindori where around 40% schools fault on teacher-student ratio.
This report exposes the state government’s claim of surplus electricity. State government claims that electricity has reached all villages but 72.8% of the state run schools are without electricity. The survey report comes down heavily on the government saying that MP sells electricity to other states but couldn’t reach out to its own schools.
MP fares too low in comparison to its neighbouring states. Gujarat’s 99.9% schools have electricity while Maharashtra has 85.4%, Chhatisgarh 69.5%, Rajasthan 58.3%, even Uttar Pradesh fares better where 41.5% schools have electricity compared to Madhya Pradesh with 27.2%.
Even on this parameter tribal dominated districts are the worst sufferers. Only 9.4% schools in Alirajpur district have electricity while in Dindori 11.8%, Betul 12.7%, Jhabua 13.4% and Anuppur 15.2% schools have electricity. On the contrary 64.4% schools in Bhopal and 60.8% schools in Indore have electricity.
MP stands at 29th position at national level on availability of computers in schools. Only 15.1% of schools in MP have computers in comparison to national average of 27.2%. In this category also tribal districts like Mandla, Alirajpur, Dindori, Jhabua and Damoh are worst sufferers. Tribal district of Singrauli, Mandla and Dindori also fare bad on safe drinking water in schools.
According to RTE norms ramps are necessary in schools. In MP only 35% of schools have ramps that help specially-abled children accessibility. Here again tribal dominated districts fare bad. More than 45.4% of schools in the state do not have boundary walls while only 67.5% schools have playground. Number of school dropout children is 4.51% at primary level and 7.65% at middle level.
