Higher secondary school GER improves; Uttar Pradesh sees sharpest rise in enrolment

This data is part of the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus 2021-22 report, released Thursday. It is a comprehensive study that provides information on enrollment and dropout rates of school students, number of teachers in schools, and information on other infrastructural facilities like toilets, buildings and electricity.

“In 2021-22, total students enrolled in school education from primary to higher secondary stood at 25.57 crore as compare to 25.38 crore enrolment in 2020-21, registering an increase of 19.36 lakh enrolments. Total number of Scheduled caste enrolment increased to 4.82 Crore in 2021-22 as compared to 4.78 Crore in 2020-21. Similarly, total Scheduled Tribe enrolment increased to 2.51 crore in 2021-22 from 2.49 crore in 2020-21. Total other backward students also increased to 11.48 crore in 2021-22 from 11.35 crore in 2020-21,” the ministry said.

Total enrolment of Children with Special Needs (CWSN) in 2021-22 stood at 22.67 lakh compared to 21.91 lakh in 2020-21 showing an improvement of 3.45% over 2020-21.

“95.07 lakh teachers are engaged in school education during 2021-22 out of which more than 51% are female teachers. Further, in 2021-22, the Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) stood at 26 for primary, 19 for upper primary, 18 for secondary and 27 for higher secondary, showing an improvement since 2018-19. The PTR for primary, upper primary, secondary and higher secondary was 28, 19, 21, and 30 respectively during 2018-19,” as per the report.

In 2021-22, over 12.29 crore girls enrolled in primary to higher secondary showing an increase of 8.19 lakh compare to 2020-21. The Gender Parity Index (GPI) of GER shows the representation of females in school education is in line with representation of girls in population of corresponding age group. The GPI value at all level of school education are one or more implying more participation of girls in the school education.

In 2021-22, total number of Scheduled Caste (SC) students from Primary to Higher Secondary has gone up to 4.83 crore from 4.78 crore in 2020-21. Similarly, total Scheduled Tribe (ST) students have gone up from 2.49 crore to 2.51 crore and Other Backward Caste (OBC) students from 11.35 crore to 11.49 crore during 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Total number of schools in 2021-22 stood at 14.89 lakhs compared to 15.09 lakhs in 2020-21. The decline was mainly due to closure of private and other management schools and grouping/clustering of schools by various states.