NEW DELHI: Pratham’s Annual Survey of Education Report for 2014 while expressing concern over falling learning levels also points out that more and more schools are complying with the provisions of Right to Education. There is also positive development as far as libraries, drinking water and toilet facilities are concerned.
ASER says percentage of schools complying with RTE-mandated pupil-teacher ratio has increased from 45.3% in 2013 to 49.3% in 2014. In 2010 when RTE was notified, this stood at 38.9%.
As for drinking water, Pratham team found that on the day of their visit 75.6% of schools had right facilities. Four states – Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh – have drinking water facilities in 85% of schools.
In case of toilets, there has been a significant improvement. Nationally, 65.2% of schools visited had toilet facilities. Proportion of schools visited where girls’ toilets were available has gone up from 32.9% in 2010 to 53.3% in 2013 and to 55.7% in 2014. Four states – Gujarat, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana – had more than 75% of schools with useable girls’ toilets.
But only 19.6% schools have computers in 2014 as compared to 15.8% in 2010. States that stand out include Gujarat (81.3%), Kerala (89.8%), Maharashtra (46.3%) and Tamil Nadu (62.4%).
More and more schools are having libraries – up from 62.6% in 2010 to 78.1% in 2014. Pratham team also found that in about 40.7% of schools, children were seen using library books compared to 37.9% in 2010.