Education Minister R. Pegu said that during the last two years of the Corona-19 pandemic in Assam, there has been a steady increase in the enrollment of students in government schools, mainly due to the financial strain on the families. While the pandemic has had an overall impact on school education, the gradual improvement in teaching quality in government institutions has attracted many parents to enroll their children in such schools, the minister told PTI in an interview.
We have seen an increase in enrollment in government schools during and after the pandemic, the education minister said. He explained that the financial impact of the pandemic has forced many parents to shift their children from private schools with high monthly fees to free government schools. This is good news for us. This development can be attributed to several factors.
Such a calculation is usually done in September every year and the next survey will be conducted two months later this year, Mr. Pegu said. When asked about the drop in the pass percentage in class 10 state board exams, the minister admitted that the result indicates that many students were deprived of formal education during the pandemic.
Another factor is the overall improvement in the quality of education in government schools. We have been taking several steps to improve the quality in the last few years and the results are visible now, – said Minister R. Pegu.
This is a matter of concern for us. The pass percentage has not improved this year as compared to the years before the pandemic. We conducted special remedial classes. However, we could not touch all the schools and all the students.
The education minister said that the performance of rural schools was lower than that of urban schools as the online mode could not reach everyone. We were not prepared with this online learning system. Many study materials and learning mechanisms were developed during the last two years. Now we are ready for any situation, – he said.
As per the data, the total number of students in all government, aided and non-private schools across Assam has increased by over 64,000 during the 15-month period of the COVID-19 pandemic from September 2020.
The minister said the education department has collated the enrollment data of all students from class 1 to Class 12 and found that the total number has increased despite fears of dropouts due to the impact of the pandemic.
The pass percentage for the class 10 matriculation examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) for 2022 was 56.50 per cent. After the exam was canceled in 2021 due to the pandemic, the results of class 10 state board exams were declared based on a marking formula prepared by an expert committee.
As per the results declared by SEBA, last year the pass percentage had increased from 64.9 per cent in 2020 to 93.2 per cent. It was 60.24 percent in 2019 and 56.05 percent in 2018.
