Enrolment of students dipped substantially between 2019-2020 and 2020-21: Ministry data

Enrolment of students in both private and government-aided schools in Maharashtra saw a substantial dip between 2019-2020 and 2020-21, a year of extended school closures and shift to online education, according to district-level government data released by the Ministry of Education late on Wednesday. The impact of Covid-19, which brought with it multiple issues in the education sector such as disparity in access to devices and internet facility for online education coupled with inability by parents to pay fees due to financial constraints triggered by the pandemic reflected in the Unified District System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data.

According to the report, 2,25,11,839 students were enrolled from pre-primary to Class XII in Maharashtra in 2020-21 as compared to 2,30,54,357 the previous year, indicating a drop of 5.42 lakh students. Enrolments in pre-primary, primary (I-IV) and upper primary (VI-VIII) classes saw the biggest drop in terms of numbers with pre-primary student enrolments dropping by 2.82 lakh and primary students’ enrolments dropping by 3.01 lakh.

The report noted that drop in numbers at the pre-primary level may be an outcome of the postponement of school admission of the children during the pandemic.

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While the drop in enrolments was seen across all types of school, more than 1.25 lakh students from Class I to XII in private, unaided, recognised schools dropped out between 2019-20 and 2020-21, which could be an indicator of the financial distress faced by parents.

According to the report, only 36 per cent schools had internet facility. Besides, 83 per cent private schools were found to have internet access compared to 11.82 per cent government-run schools.

Multiple attempts have been made to track the students who have fallen out of the school system due to the pandemic. Last year, the state government even attempted a survey to document the number of school dropouts but it failed in many districts. The drop in enrolment numbers is another worrisome indicator and has strengthened the call for a survey on out-of-school students to understand the reasons for the dropouts.