81 govt schools see zero enrolment, but steady rise in teacher strength

In two years, from 2022-23 to 2023-24, the number of teachers in zero enrolment schools have jumped from 137 to 178 in the state, as per a report of the Ministry of Education’s Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus.

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The recently released report pointed out that there were 63 schools with zero enrolment in 2022-23, which jumped to 81 in 2023-24. Besides there were several schools with single teachers.

In 2022-23, 991 schools, with enrolment of 49,236, had single teachers. In 2023-24, there were 867 such schools with enrolment of 40,828.

The total enrolment in the state was 56.41 lakh in 2023-24, whereas a year before, it was 57.76 lakh, the report says. In government schools, the enrolment was 22.30 lakh in 2023-24 — less than in 2022-23 (24.64 lakh).

There was an overall dip in the enrolment of Muslim students in secondary education. Girls' enrolment (secondary) was mere 4.4 per cent in 2022-23, which further fell to 4.2 per cent in 2023-24. The enrolment of boys fell from 5.7 per cent to 5.4 per cent in two years. Overall, the enrolment of Muslims fell from 5.1 per cent to 4.9 per cent from 2022-23 to 2023-24.

In 2023-24, there were 13,920 government schools — of 14,734 (96.8 per cent) — that had computers for pedagogical purpose, but just 52.5 per cent had Internet facility. Only 67.2 schools had functional 'Children With Special Needs' toilets, and 37.8 per cent had functional smart classrooms/smart boards/virtual classrooms or smart TV availability. Mere 19.8 per cent schools are using functional mobile phones for teaching.

Less than 1 per cent  schools had the facility of digital library in 2023-24, while over 38 per cent had functional ICT labs.

A senior official of the Education Department said "the report is being looked into".

In other schools, single teachers

In 2022-23, 991 schools, with enrolment of 49,236, had single teachers. In 2023-24, there were 867 such schools with enrolment of 40,828