The report on the condition of education in BMC schools, released by Praja Foundation, has pointed out numerous lacunae with some of them being overspending without quality, decrease in enrolments and
The report on the condition of education in BMC schools, released by Praja Foundation, has pointed out numerous lacunae with some of them being overspending without quality, decrease in enrolments and increase in drop out rates in BMC schools.
Speaking at the release of the study for the year 2014-15, Nitai Mehta, managing trustee, Praja Foundation, said that while the Prime Minister envisioned power of the youth and make the nation a knowledge superpower, the picture is blurry going by the state of education in public (municipal) schools in country’s economic capital, Mumbai.
“In the last five years, enrolment in schools run by MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) has dropped by around 40,778 students, an aggregate drop of 9 per cent. The class 1 enrolment is decreasing at a more alarming rate than ever. In fact, by using a time series-regression we have estimated that while 63,392 students entered class 1 in 2008-9, and 39,214 students entered in 2014-15, the figure is estimated to drop to 31,096 for the academic year 2018-19. At this rate, the day is not far when the municipal schools will probably have more teachers and other employees than students,” said Mr Mehta.
Blaming the politicians including municipal corporators and local MLAs who failed to raise questions pertaining to education in both the MCGM and Cabinet, Mr Nitai said, “The lack of interest of our political and administrative leadership shows that they are least concerned about providing education.”
The study points out that out of the 227 councillors only 61 have asked questions on the issue of education from April 2014-March 2015, while only three questions were asked regarding the high drop rate in MCGM schools. Similarly four MLAs from Mumbai have not asked any question on education.
The report further points out that while in 2013-14 the BMC spending per capita on students was Rs 28,945 the spending in 2014-15 went up to Rs 43,526 but the quality of education did not improve, rather the drop out rate with the exception of English schools went up drastically.
Mr Mehta also said that when compared to students from private schools, civic school students fared badly, proving that the quality of education being imparted was not up to the mark. The class IV scholarship exam saw only 1.6 per cent of students from BMC schools getting scholarships, which is less than the 9.8 per cent students from private schools who received scholarships.
