CHENNAI: The percentage of government school students joining higher education institutions has seen a sharp jump in the last two years. According to official data, at least 62% of students who passed out of government schools in 2022-23 have enrolled in higher education institutions.
While the consolidated figure for 2023-24 is yet to be made available, officials said the percentage of students from government pursuing higher education is expected to be on an upward trend. They said this percentage hovered around 45% before 2022-23.
With this significant jump, they said the State’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which was at 47% in 2021-22 (against the national figure of 28.4%), is also likely to increase sharply for the year 2022-23. The All India Survey on Higher Education’s annual report, which brings out the GER for every state and the country, is yet to be released for 2022-23.
The State’s data on enrolment of government school students in higher studies is arrived at by comparing records from the Educational Management Information System (EMIS), which has been in use for schools, and the University Management Information System (UMIS), which was launched couple of years back by the state government to capture data on students pursuing higher studies.
As UMIS is still in the process of getting institutionalised, some colleges are yet to upload their data. This would mean that the actual enrolment figure could be higher than 62%, said officials. Consequently, officials expect TN’s GER for 2022-23 to surpass 60%.
However, it has to be noted that GER calculation does not compare students enroling in higher education institutions versus those passing out of Class 12. Instead, it compares enrolment in higher education versus the population of youth in that age group.
Increase in enrolment credited to Naan Mudhalvan scheme
Sources in the School Education Department credited the increase in enrolment to the systemic efforts made through the Naan Mudhalvan scheme, which, besides its other objectives, aims to create awareness among children on higher education opportunities.
The efforts included organising awareness programmes, facilitating educational loans, conducting campus tours of nearby higher educational institutions, and engagement by headmasters, teachers and alumni of the respective schools with the students to encourage them to pursue higher studies. Career guidance was also introduced as a subject for class 11 and 12 students and has now been extended from Class 9.
“Many students were previously dropping out after completing school due to financial constraints. We held district-level camps to organise loans and scholarships for such students,” said a senior official from the school education department. The School Education Department is currently in the process of identifying approximately 1,10,736 students from the academic year 2022-23 and 1,34,012 students from 2023-24 who are yet to enrol in higher education.
The department has compiled individual dropout figures from over 3,100 government schools across the state.
This data has been shared with members of the Career Guidance Cell, School Management Committees and alumni in each schools.
They have now been tasked with gathering information about the students from each school and conducting home visits to counsel them on continuing their education.
After counseling, camps will be organised starting from September 2 to assist these students with the enrolment process in higher education. Officials believe this initiative will help increase enrolment numbers further.