AHMEDABAD: Gujarat may be a model state on other counts, but when it comes to good quality education, it is far behind even states like Haryana, Sikkim, Manipur, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh.
This fact is revealed by the sustainable development report-2024, authored by Niti Aayog. The report recently put in the public domain states, on SDG index rating Kerala tops with 82, followed by Haryana and Himachal Pradesh 77 each, whereas Gujarat has scored just 58, It is below West Bengal, even states like Jharkhand and Rajasthan.
The state government has run a school enrolment programme for more than a decade named ‘Shala Praveshotsav’, where the senior IAS, IPS and even IFS officers visit villages to see that enrollment increases yearly, and no child is left out. Even after putting all these efforts and energy behind it, the net enrolment rate in class I – VIII is 89%, compared to this Arunchal Pradesh and Assam has 100 per cent results, Andhra Pradesh has 96.9% result.
On the other hand enrollment is not 100%, and the dropout ratio in secondary is still high, the state may claim that compared to 1980’s and 1990’s dropout ratio, it is successful in bringing down the dropout ratio, report states still Gujarat has 17.9%, which is higher than Kerala, which has just 5.5%, even state like Haryana has 5.9% dropout ratio.
Gujarat’s enrollment ratio in higher secondary classes is 48.2%
The shocking revelation is that Gujarat’s enrollment ratio in higher secondary classes is 48.2%, whereas Kerala has 85% and Tamil Nadu 81%.
It is not that Gujarat is not doing at all well in the education front, State’s 99.93% schools have basic amenities like electricity and drinking waters facilities. 98% of schools are equipped with computers. State’s schools have 97% trained teachers in secondary school.
In February 2024, the Gujarat government informed the legislative assembly that 1,606 government-run primary schools were operating with just one teacher for all students from classes 1 to 8—a significant rise from 700 such schools in 2022, nearly doubling in just one year.