Enrollment of students in Bihar’s rural schools has increased, but a sharp drop in attendance, particularly in Magadha division, is a matter of concern for the administration, it said on Wednesday. An education department said that despite good student-teacher ratios in many rural schools, class attendance ranges between 5-10%. Also, dwindling number of students in government colleges in rural Bihar is a problem.
A total of ₹51,000 crore has been allocated for this in the current financial year. He said that several measures are being taken to increase the attendance of students in schools and colleges. Education is the largest allocation in the state.
According to the Bihar Economic Survey (2021 and 2022), about 36.6 percent of students enrolled in class I are unable to complete their secondary education. The proportion of students completing higher secondary education is even lower.
Bihar has 42,574 primary, 25,588 higher primary, 2,287 secondary and 2,218 higher secondary schools. Asked about the department’s findings, Bihar Education Minister C Shekhar told PTI-Baha, “I am aware of it.” I am sure this scenario will change soon. Our government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has given top priority to education.
On August 26, he paid a surprise visit to schools in rural Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawadah, Jehanabad and Arwal. The department is analysing the results of his visit. We are also talking to principals and parents to find ways to bring children to school, – he said.
A high student enrollment rate may not matter much if the dropout rate is also high. And school environment and infrastructure, the study said. In the case of Bihar, all these factors are at work in varying degrees. All the reasons behind such dropouts can be broadly distributed into three categories- social and cultural, & economical. Dropping out of school before completing the desired level of education is a problem & big challenge in Bihar.
During the surprise visit, our team members were surprised to find that in classes 9 and 11, less than ten percent students were present, while in classes 10 and 12 attendance was less than five percent.
He said that a recent surprise inspection by senior officials of the department has revealed that many government schools in rural areas are almost empty of class IX, X, XI and XII classes.
A similar exercise is expected to be conducted in Gopalganj and Vaishali, Saran, Siwan districts soon, he said, adding polling in rural colleges is also a matter of concern.
Telling that teachers and parents should find a solution to this problem, he said, Please don’t force me to take drastic measures to correct the situation.
