The demand for admission into government schools is picking up in the State. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is improving compared to the previous years. Improved pass percentage and infrastructure are some of the reasons being cited by the officials for the surge in demand.
As per official information, the GER in primary schools, which was 82.79% in 2017-18, increased to 85.59%. Similarly, in the upper primary schools, it increased to 83.93% from 80.87%. The GER in secondary schools increased to 79.14% from 76.08%.
This apart, the number of drop-outs has come down to 82,490 against more than one lakh the previous year.
The parents were earlier reluctant to admit their wards into aided and government schools because of lack of confidence.
“But due to many interventions, including technology adoption, and sustained campaigns such as ‘Badi Pilustondi’, the government has been able to win the confidence of the parents,” says School Education Commissioner K. Sandhya Rani.
Biometric system
“Teachers’ attendance too has improved after introduction of the biometric system. As parents are showing interest in English medium schools, many government schools have been granted permission to run English medium sections. The quality of education has improved and the parents are satisfied. Also, programmes such as ‘Badi Bata’ and ‘Mana Vooru Mana Badi’ are yielding the desired result,” Ms. Sandhya Rani says.
Giving the status of enrolments in the government and aided schools, she says, “The National Achievement Status (NAS) points out that the State stands in the second position in the overall ranking.
In some subjects and languages, Andhra Pradesh has bagged the first position. The overall ranking for classes 3, 5 and 8 is third.”
However, the GER is less than the national average.
The officials, however, attribute it to various factors, one of which is generation of accurate data without leaving scope for errors like duplication as Andhra Pradesh is one of the few States that has linked the admission process to Aadhaar card.
