Delhi has poorest pupil-teacher ratio for classes 6-8, second poorest at primary level

While this poor pupil-teacher ratio has been recorded by UDISE+ reports for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 as well, this year’s report shows the ratio to be progressively getting poorer.

In the upper primary level, the ratio in Delhi is 33 students for every teacher, which is the poorest in the country. It is followed by West Bengal and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu which have ratios of 28 students for every teacher. In 2019-2020, Delhi’s ratio was 30:1 and in 2020-2021, it was 31:1.

At the primary level, with a ratio of 34:1, it is second only to Bihar which has a ratio of 54:1. In both 2019-2020, Delhi’s ratio at this level was 33:1.

While there had been a drop in enrollment in these grades in the first year of the pandemic in 2020-2021, the enrollment picked up again in 2021-2022. At the primary level, it dropped from 18,11,723 to 17,49,132 in 2020-2021, but increased to 17,54,430 in 2021-2022. At the upper primary level, it dropped from 11,39,560 to 71,777 in 2020-2021, and increased to 11,90,775 in 2021-2022. However, teachers at these levels have decreased, particularly in private schools. In private schools at primary level, teachers have progressively decreased from 30,101 to 27,855 to 26,385 over the two pandemic years. At the upper primary level, it decreased from 14,518 to 13,932 to 13,406 in private schools.

Another consistent trend over the two pandemic years has been the decrease in the overall enrollment in private schools and a concurrent increase in the overall enrollment in government schools. Enrollment in private schools has decreased from 18,80,160 to 17,81,795 in 2020-21 and to 16,24,522 in 2021-22. In government schools, it has increased from 23,77,476 to 25,42,240 to 27,96,676.