Enrolment in govt elementary schools down 50% in two decades

The enrolment of students in 12,404 government elementary schools in the state has fallen by 50 per cent from 9.71 lakh to 4.29 lakh over the past two decades, said Education Minister Rohit Thakur while replying to a question of Rakesh Kalia, Pawan Kajal and Randhir Sharma during the Question Hour in the Vidhan Sabha on Saturday.

Rohit said that surplus staff in educational institutions would be shifted to high-enrolment schools in tough and difficult areas, where there was huge vacancies of teachers. “In 2003-04, there were 12,404 schools up to the middle level with 9.71 lakh students enrolled. In 2023-24, while the number of schools remain the same, the enrolment has fallen by 50 per cent to 4,29,070, highlighting the need for rationalisation,” he added.

The minister said that the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR), which was 1:22 in the state, had improved to 1:11 in 2023-24, which would be the highest in the country. He added that in tribal areas, the PTR was 1:3. “A total of 3,395 posts of Trained Graduate Teacher and 546 of headmasters, besides 1,500 other posts of teacher are vacant. We have sent a requisition for filling 937 posts of TGT and 1,762 posts of JBT to the State Public Service Commission,” he added.

Over the past two years, the appointment of teachers have been made batch-wise but even now, many posts in far flung areas such as in Chamba are lying vacant. Rohit assured the House that recruitments were being made to fill vacancies in schools.

To Lahaul-Spiti MLA Anuradha Rana’s question, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said that there was no provision of giving subsidy for lift irrigation or water scheme. “Glaciers are receding at a very fast pace, which is a cause for concern. This has obviously increased the dependence of farmers on irrigation schemes even as the ground water level is falling,” he added.

Agnihotri said that glaciers were receding at the rate of 2.4 per cent in the Chandra basin, 3.2 per cent in the Bhaga basin and 2.4 per cent in the Spiti sub-basin. “We have submitted a Rs 1,269.29-crore detailed project report (DPR) to the Central Government for setting up 145 snow stupas, 1,100 snow racks and snow points as part of snow harvesting initiatives,” he added.

Anuradha said that Lahaul-Spiti was a very arid district and with snowfall reducing, there was an urgent need to undertake snow harvesting measures to meet the water requirement. Paonta Sahib MLA Sukh Ram Chaudhary stressed the need for preparing a master plan to augment the falling groundwater level, as the dependence of farmers on irrigation was increasing.