CHENNAI: Enrolment in government schools came down by 14.76 per cent and 11.84 per cent in secondary and higher secondary schools respectively between 2016 and 2021, said the report of CAG in a performance audit on the functioning of government schools in the state.
In the same period, government-aided and private schools saw an increase of 3.97 per cent in secondary and 0.60 per cent in higher secondary enrolment. While TN has a gross enrolment rate (GER) of 94.20 per cent and 78.60 per cent at secondary and higher secondary levels against the all India rate of 79.89 per cent and 53.80 per cent respectively, the performance of private schools fuelled higher performance. Even though there was marginal improvement in 2022, the fall in 2016-21 period is steep, the report said.
As regards accessibility of schools, it said there are 2,133 habitations without a high school within a five-km radius and 1,926 habitations without a higher secondary school within an eight-km radius in the state. Neither the commissioner of school education nor CEOs compiled data on school-age children residing in these habitations.
Though children residing in remote villages are provided transport and escort arrangement to the nearest schools under Samagra Shiksha, the scheme benefits only 7.17% of children due to a lack of data on school-going children in these areas. Due to this, the state could not accurately identify habitations which are eligible for opening of new schools or upgrade existing schools to increase accessibility. The GIS database would not be useful without this data, the report added.
Of 528 schools upgraded during 2016-21, a total of 515 did not meet the distance and student strength norms prescribed for upgrade. In January 2021, a month before the code of conduct for the Assembly elections, 2021, came into force, the government upgraded 36 middle schools into high schools and 45 high schools into higher secondary schools. Of this, 17 panchayat union middle schools and 20 high schools were marked by the commissioner of school education as 'not recommended.' The audit said these upgrades were based on extraneous reasons than on merit.
Government schools also didn't fare well when compared to private schools in terms of retention rate in class 10 and pass percentage in both class 10 and class 12. The number of students scoring more than 60% in these examinations was significantly lesser in government schools.