Chennai: Despite introducing several reforms in school education, the admissions in the government primary schools continue to decline. They are down by 10 per cent (35,000) in the current academic year (2018-19).
The school education department is compiling admission statistics for this academic year. As per the records, the state run schools have enrolled less than three lakh students this year in class 1.
Due to reports that state government is likely to merge primary schools which have less than 10 students with nearby schools, the teachers and others launched a statewide admission campaign for government primary and middle schools.
“Despite the campaign, the admission in government primary and middle schools are yet to cross three lakh (2.88 lakh) in class 1 this year,” sources said.
As reported earlier by this paper, last year 3.23 lakh students were admitted into government primary schools.
Meanwhile, the government-aided schools also witnessed a slump as their admissions also went down by 10 per cent compared to last year. In the previous year, 1.22 lakh students were admitted to government-aided schools and it was lesser by around 11,000 this year. The private nursery and primary schools witnessed an increase of 7,000 (5 per cent) this year to 1.75 lakh.
“The remaining students might have joined in other private schools including CBSE and matriculation schools,” sources added.
When asked, officials said, “The department is yet to fully receive the current year admission details from all government schools. We hope it will cross three lakh this year.”
The officials have pointed out two main reasons for the dip in admissions in government schools. “There is a gradual decrease in the number of students joining class 1 while looking at the admission statistics in all schools and the second reason is RTE admissions,” they added.
During the last three years, the state government is facilitating upto one lakh RTE admissions in private schools. According to educationists, it is causing the downfall in the enrolment of government primary schools in class 1.
“Instead of starting KG sections in government schools, the government made the students study in private schools. If the state government had not facilitated the RTE admissions, many of these students would have joined government primary schools,” said P.B. Prince Gajendrababu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System. To strengthen the primary schools, the state government needs to introduce LKG and UKG sections, he added.
R.Doss, general secretary, Thamizhaga Arambapalli Asiriyar Kootani has demanded that the state government appoint one teacher per class to improve the enrolment.
“Around one lakh students are migrating every year from government schools to private schools. To save the government schools, the state government immediately needs to take several measures including starting nursery sections in government schools,” he urged.
The average students’ strength per primary school has come down drastically in the last 13 years.“In 2005, the average student strength per primary and middle schools was 120 and the number has come down to 50,” according to M. Damodaran, joint secretary, Aid India.
There are multiple reasons that contributed to the decrease and one of them is the craze for the English language.“Instead of starting English medium sections with the same teachers, the state government could have adopted
innovative ways and modern technology to improve the English communication of government schools. Once, the government school students start to speak English, the enrolment will increase substantially,” he suggested.
