More Than 14% Villages in India Are School Deprived

Education is one of the key areas in India that requires attention and reforms. Time and again the Government reports reflect that they are working towards the betterment of education sector in India but all seems to be in vain when it comes to results.

As per the data and statistics of the Rural Development Ministry, only 6.57 per cent villages in India have senior secondary schools. On one hand about 14% of the villages do not have schools at all whereas on the other hand, as many as 10 states in the country have over 15 per cent such villages. This data was collected under the Mission Antyodaya and reflects that around 47 per cent villages have schools only up to the primary level. Apart from the 75,613 (14.33 per cent) villages that don’t have schools, the data depicts that almost 21 per cent villages have up to middle level schools (Classes 6 to 8), around 11 per cent have up to high schools (Classes 9 and 10) and only 6.57 per cent have up to senior secondary schools (Classes 11 and 12). The government is focusing and collecting village wise data so as to find out the areas of gap and to fill these gaps in the appropriate manner. Upon referring to the state wise findings and statistics, it is seen that the following ten states: Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Manipur, Goa, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh are even worse than the national average. It is so because over 15 per cent villages have reported that there are absolutely no schools. On the other hand, Mizoram, Kerala and Gujarat consist of less than 2% villages with no schools. Kerala is doing quite well when it comes to imparting higher education. 80% villages in Kerala consist of schools; around 11% schools provide education upto the level of high school. This clearly shows that the state has only 10% villages that have schools only upto the middle or primary level. Amongst all states, the poorest performance at the senior secondary level school education is that of Odisha, Nagaland and Jharkhand with only 1.7 per cent, 1.8 per cent and 2.1 per cent villages, respectively, with such schools. All this data has been collected at the village level. The Ministry hasn’t yet collected any data at the Gram Panchayat level. As per the 2014 data of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)’s, around 94% households in the rural areas has reported availability of primary school within approximately 1 km from the house. The NSSO data stated that it is the higher education which is not being properly imparted, primary education is not such a big challenge.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://theprint.in/governance/over-14-per-cent-villages-in-india-dont-have-schools-says-latest-data/170440/