One out of every three students nationwide is receiving private coaching, and consumption is higher in cities: Education Survey

Approximately one-third of students in schools from all over the country are receiving private coaching, on which city-based families are spending several times more than in villages. Government schools continue to impart education to the most number of students, as per the CMS education survey.

More than every third school-going child in the country is undergoing private coaching, and this phenomenon is more prominently observed in urban India. This fact has emerged from the Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS) of the Central Government. The survey also disclosed that government schools continue to be a part of the educational landscape in India, where they hold 55.9 percent of the total enrollment.

Condition of government and private schools

Of these children, approximately two-thirds (66 percent) from rural areas are attending government schools, while in urban areas it is merely 30.1 percent. While 31.9 percent of the children nationwide attend private unaided (recognized) schools.

This survey is under the 80th round of National Sample Survey (NSS), where information has been collected separately regarding the spending on school education. For this, data was drawn from 52,085 households and 57,742 students across the nation.

Growing trend of coaching

The survey has come up with the fact that 27 percent of students have taken or are taking private coaching during this academic year. The ratio is 30.7 percent in urban and 25.5 percent in rural areas.

Discussing expenses, urban households spent Rs 3,988 on average for each student per year for coaching, whereas rural households spent Rs 1,793 on average.

Expenditure rising with rising level of education

Costs on coaching are also growing very fast with rising level of education.

Average cost on primary level: Rs 525.

Average cost on higher secondary level: Rs 6,384.

Cost on coaching at higher secondary level in metropolitan areas: Rs 9,950.

In rural towns: Rs 4,548

It is obvious that cost on coaching in cities is several times higher than in rural towns.

Who pays the cost of studies?

As per the survey, 95% of the students who spend on education in school indicated that their family members are the first major source of education. This is the case in both rural (95.3%) and urban (94.4%) areas. However, 1.2% of the students indicated that the major source of their education is government scholarship.

Changes from previous survey

Earlier during the year 2017-18, the 75th round of NSS was undertaken on education, but as per officials of the Ministry of Education, its findings cannot be compared directly with the survey being done now because at that time Anganwadi centers were not being counted under the pre-primary education and the coaching expenditure was also being included in the education expenditure, while CMS survey had put Anganwadi in pre-primary education and counted school education and the coaching expense in different categories.

Total expenditure on education

The survey also showed that across all the school types, the most expenditure per student during this academic year was on average spent on course fees (Rs 7,111), and then Rs 2,002 was spent on stationery and books.

Expenditure is significantly different between rural and urban areas.

Average course fees in urban areas: Rs 15,143.

Average course fees in rural areas: Rs 3,979.