{"id":43655,"date":"2025-05-19T19:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=43655"},"modified":"2025-05-19T19:27:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:57:29","slug":"govt-school-enrolment-drops-in-23-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-05-2025\/govt-school-enrolment-drops-in-23-states","title":{"rendered":"Govt School Enrolment Drops in 23 States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Education\/Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Minutes of meetings held by the <strong>Ministry of Education (MoE)<\/strong> with 33 States and UTs show that <strong>student enrolment dipped in 23 states.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The<strong> drop first came to light late last year in the UDISE+ report for 2023-24, <\/strong>which pointed to a sharp fall of around 1.5 crore in overall school enrolment (government and private) compared to the 2018-19 to 2021-22 average.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>PM-POSHAN minutes show the <strong>trend continuing into 2024-25, <\/strong>triggering fresh concern in the government.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>At least eight witnessed declines exceeding 100,000:<\/strong> led by Uttar Pradesh (21.83 lakh), Bihar (6.14 lakh), Rajasthan (5.63 lakh) and West Bengal (4.01 lakh).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"d1cecd\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"759\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Govt-School-Enrolment-Drops-in-23-States.png\" alt=\"Govt School-Enrolment Drops in 23 States\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-43659\" style=\"--dominant-color: #d1cecd; width:535px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Govt-School-Enrolment-Drops-in-23-States.png 759w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Govt-School-Enrolment-Drops-in-23-States-300x166.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 759px) 100vw, 759px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Compared to 2023-24,<\/strong> Karnataka saw its enrollment fall by around 2 lakh; Assam by 1.68 lakh, Tamil Nadu by 1.65 lakh and Delhi by 1.05 lakh.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The PM-POSHAN meetings flagged low scheme coverage:<\/strong> In Delhi, the number of students availing midday meals fell by 97,000 in 2024-25 versus 2023-24.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Uttar Pradesh, meal coverage dropped by 5.41 lakh students, by 3.27 lakh in Rajasthan and 8.04 lakh in West Bengal.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some States reported students bringing their own tiffin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Possible Reasons for the Decline<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The first is a <strong>change in data-collection methodology<\/strong>\u2014from school-wise reporting (just total numbers) to student-wise reporting, this ongoing <strong>\u201cdata cleansing\u201d may have removed \u201cghost\u201d entries.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Several States have suggested enrolment may be <strong>moving from government to private schools <\/strong>in the post-Covid years, reversing pandemic-era trends.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Implications<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Nutritional Risk:<\/strong> Lower participation could impact child health and learning outcomes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Administrative Gaps: <\/strong>Transition to Aadhaar-based data is essential but may cause temporary disruption.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Policy Reflection:<\/strong> Need to re-evaluate strategies to maintain enrolment and ensure scheme utilization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>MoE&#8217;s Response<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The ministry has expressed <strong>&#8220;deep concern&#8221;<\/strong> and asked states to <strong>investigate causes and submit reports by June 30.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It emphasized on <strong>improving the meal coverage and quality assurance<\/strong> for concerns of some students reportedly bringing their own food.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>PM-POSHAN<\/strong><br>&#8211; PM-POSHAN \u2014 Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman, formerly known as the midday-meal scheme, is a<strong> centrally sponsored Scheme<\/strong> under the Ministry<strong> of Education.<\/strong><br>1. It operates on a<strong> 60:40 funding model<\/strong> between the <strong>Centre and the states.<\/strong><br>&#8211; Provides <strong>hot cooked meals to 11.20 crore students <\/strong>in Balvatika and<strong> classes 1 to 8.<\/strong><br>&#8211; Covers 10.36 lakh govt. &amp; govt.-aided schools.<br>&#8211; Under the scheme,<strong> material cost is provided <\/strong>for procurement of ingredients such as pulses, vegetables, oil, spices and condiments, and fuel required for cooking the meals.\u00a0<br>1. The Centre also supplies around 2.6 million metric tonnes of food grains annually through the Food Corporation of India (FCI), covering 100% of the cost.<br>&#8211; Besides addressing child nutrition, <strong>a cooked meal in school is known to boost attendance,<\/strong> learning outcomes and attention spans.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/education\/enrolment-in-govt-schools-drops-centre-asks-states-to-probe-send-remedial-plans-10013120\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Minutes of meetings held by the Ministry of Education (MoE) with 33 States and UTs show that student enrolment dipped in 23 states.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>About<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The drop first came to light late last year in the UDISE+ report for 2023-24, which pointed to a sharp fall of around 1.5 crore in overall school enrolment (government and private) compared to the 2018-19 to 2021-22 average.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">PM-POSHAN minutes show the trend continuing into 2024-25, triggering fresh concern in the government.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">At least eight witnessed declines exceeding 100,000: led by Uttar Pradesh (21.83 lakh), Bihar (6.14 lakh), Rajasthan (5.63 lakh) and West Bengal (4.01 lakh).<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Compared to 2023-24, Karnataka saw its enrollment fall by around 2 lakh; Assam by 1.68 lakh, Tamil Nadu by 1.65 lakh and Delhi by 1.05 lakh.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-05-2025\/govt-school-enrolment-drops-in-23-states\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43655"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43689,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43655\/revisions\/43689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}