Education Ministry brings constant rise in admissions in private schools in states, asks them to reverse trend

The same matter was raised in recent state sessions that the Education Ministry has been conducting with states over the PM-POSHAN or the midday meal scheme as well.

Referring to the "alarming trend" of students "away from government schools", and the steady increase in admissions in private schools in states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttarakhand, the Ministry of Education has asked them to initiate steps to reverse the trend.

The issue of admission of students into school was a topic discussed during the meetings the Education Ministry organized with the states in March and April in order to decide on their plans for 2025-26 under the Samagra Shiksha programme.

In 11 of the 23 states and Union Territories, in whose meeting minutes till now have come into the public domain, the Union ministry has placed on record the aspect of increasing enrolments in private schools, and decreasing enrolments in government and aided schools, when the respective states themselves have a higher percentage of government schools.

Another connected issue, of decreasing enrolments in government schools, was also raised in recent sessions the Ministry held with states on the PM-POSHAN or midday meal scheme as well.

In Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttarakhand, the Department of School Education and Literacy secretary under the Ministry of Education "dwelt on the issues that even though massive amounts of money were being spent, students are drifting away from government schools, which was a cause for concern."

The Andhra Pradesh meeting minutes of the ministry utilize UDISE+ data of 2023-24 to inform that out of the state's 61,373 schools, around 73 per cent (45,000) are government schools and around 25 per cent (15,232) are private schools. However, enrolment in government schools is around 46 per cent of overall enrolment, and enrolment in private schools is marginally more than 52 per cent of the total, as per the minutes. "Enrolment trend from 2021-22 to 2023-24 shows that enrolment at unaided schools is regularly on the increase," the minutes state.

Telangana and Uttarakhand, as per the minutes, have the trend of enrolment between the years 2018-19 and 2023-24 showing that "except during 2021-22 (COVID-19)", in the unaided schools enrolment is steadily increasing.