Enrolment in government schools witnesses a drop in 2012-13 compared to previous year

Updated on: Monday, May 13, 2013

Tamil Nadu government expressed 'concern' over decrease in enrolment in government schools and expressed hope to reverse the trend with the help of a slew of measures.

School Education Minister Vaigaichelvan said the enrolment trend in government schools in primary and upper primary levels had dropped in 2012-13 compared to the previous year.

Primary level enrolment was 37.75 per cent in 2011-12 which dropped to 36.58 per cent last year, even as enrolment in private schools grew from 42.92 per cent to 45.40 per cent during the same period.

Enrolment trends in upper primary level also showed a similar picture, with private schools seeing a near three per cent jump in 2012-13 at 28.50 while it was 45.03 for government schools against 46.36 per cent in the previous year.

"It is of concern to the government that there is a decrease in enrolment in government schools and the shift is in favour of private schools," he told the state assembly.

With Chief Minister Jayalalithaa apprised of the situation, government had announced a series of measures including providing notebooks, four sets of uniforms, school bags, crayons, colour pencils, atlas, geometry box and footwear, he said.

Further, introduction of English medium in the government schools in the academic year 2012-13 was also

mooted with the measure being implemented in 10 schools in each education district, providing 640 english medium sections, he said.

He expressed confidence that implementation of such schemes in rural areas will attract more students to government schools.

Further, an internal study aimed at students of classes I-VIII has revealed that students were performing "best in Tamil, better in Mathematics and not so good in English."

To deal with the issue, government has proposed establishing mathematics laboratory in select two schools in each district on a pilot basis to make learning Mathematics simple and joyful for children, the Minister said.

"An innovative technique using an English package using DVDs will be introduced in 50 schools in each district at a cost of Rs 38.60 lakh on pilot basis during the year 2013-14."

Radio lessons in English for upper primary level, capacity building of English and Mathematics teachers with right training components were also in the offing, he said.

With a Chief Minister's Special Cash Incentive reaping benefits to prevent school dropout rate, government has allocated Rs 381 crore this year to benefit 24.76 lakh children, he said.

In 2011-12, 19.10 lakh students benefited from the scheme and it rose to 21.52 lakh the next year. Government's efforts towards increasing students number in schools was evident from the number of students who had appeared for the Class X and XII exams held in 2012, he said.

Over 4.94 lakh students appeared for Class X while over 3.22 lakh of them took the Class XII exams. This was an increase from 4.69 lakh and 3.10 lakh students, respectively, in 2011, he added.

Enrolment in government schools witnesses a drop in 2012-13 compared to previous year

More Education news