Student enrolment increases in govt schools in Manipur: ASER 2022

The proportion of children (6 to 14 years) enrolled in government schools increased from 28 per cent in 2018 to 32.8 per cent in 2022. This is the highest percentage of enrollment recorded in government schools after 2008

ASER, ASER 2022, Annual Status of Education Report, ASER Manipur statistics, ASER indicators, Enrollment in Manipur government schools, Manipur schools

The survey highlighted that Manipur has the lowest government school enrolment percentage among north-eastern states. (Express Photo by Abhishek Saha/ Representative Image)

Written by: Jimmy Leivon

3 min readImphalJan 22, 2023 03:34 PM IST First published on: Jan 18, 2023 at 08:56 PM IST

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2022, which was released Wednesday, noted an improvement in enrolment figures in government schools of Manipur.

The proportion of children (6 to 14 years) enrolled in government schools increased from 28 per cent in 2018 to 32.8 per cent in 2022. This is the highest percentage of enrollment recorded in government schools after 2008 – when 33.2 per cent of children across the state studied in government-run schools, said the report.

The report said the survey was conducted across nine districts, 262 villages, and 4,859 households in Manipur. At the all-India level, the ASER 2022 survey was conducted at 17,002 government schools in 19,060 villages across 616 districts. The survey was last conducted on such a large scale in 2018.

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The survey highlighted that Manipur has the lowest government school enrolment percentage among north-eastern states. However, there has been an overall increase in the enrolment of young children in anganwadis and government pre-primary schools in Manipur, the report added.

It indicated that 29.8 per cent of three-year-olds were enrolled in anganwadi centres compared to 16.2 per cent in 2018. Among four-year-olds, anganwadi enrollment marginally increased from 11.5 per cent in 2018 to 14.6 per cent in 2022.

According to the report, the decrease in the proportion of girls not enrolled in school was even sharper among older girls in the 15-16 age group. In 2008, nationally, more than 20 per cent of girls in the 15-16 age group were not enrolled in school. Ten years later, in 2018, this figure had decreased to 13.5 per cent. The proportion of ‘not-enrolled’ girls in the 15-16 age bracket has continued to drop, standing at 7.9 per cent in 2022. Only three states have more than 10 per cent of girls in this age group out of school – Madhya Pradesh (17 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (15 per cent), and Chhattisgarh (11.2 per cent).

The report also stated that the proportion of government schools with less than 60 students has increased every year over the last decade in the country. But in Manipur, the proportion of government schools with less than 60 students has reduced from 63.6 per cent in 2018 to 59.5 per cent in 2022.

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Teacher attendance was 71.8 per cent in primary schools and 76.4 per cent in upper primary schools in 2022. Student attendance for primary classes was 61.4 per cent, and 59.1 per cent in upper primary grades in 2022.

However, the report observed that more attention needs to be paid to improving school facilities. The proportion of schools that served mid-day meals on the day of the inspection was 48.4 per cent in 2022 as compared to 46.4 per cent in 2018. The proportion of schools with drinking water facilities was 9.7 per cent in 2022, compared to 6.5 per cent in 2018.

In India, textbooks had been distributed to all grades in 90.1 per cent of primary schools and in 84.4 per cent of upper primary schools. In Manipur, the figure was 89.3 per cent for primary schools and 85 per cent for upper primary schools.