Delhi: In pandemic year, share of private schools in enrolment figures sees a dip

This is the first time that there has been a drop in private schools’ share in enrollment after a consistent increase from at least 2014-2015. In 2014-2015 this share stood at 30.52%. It has increased from year by year to 31.51% (2015-16); 39.95% (2016-17); 41.70% (2017-18); 42.56% (2018-19) and to 42.65% in 2019-2020.

The share of the 1,231 Delhi government-run and aided schools in the total enrollment in 2020-2021 stood at 39.36%. The remaining share is accounted for by schools run by the municipal corporations, Delhi cantonment board and the central government.

This comes even as there has not been a drop in total enrolment in Delhi’s schools. It could reflect a pandemic-induced shift of students from private to government schools due to parents’ inability to pay school fees owing to livelihood loss.

The total enrolment in 2021-2022 stood at 44.79 lakh, which is the highest since 2014-2015 and up from 44.76 lakh in 2019-2020. However, enrolment in pre-primary and primary grades dropped slightly, from 21.08 lakh to 20.01 lakh in 2020-2021, while it rose for all other grade levels.

The share of the private sector is usually far higher in the primary-middle grades than in the secondary-senior secondary grades. But this share dropped for both categories in 2020-2021 from 2019-2020 – from 46.72% to 43.91% for the primary-middle category and from 31.9% to 29.94% in the senior-senior secondary category.