The number of students who have taken admission to Class I in schools in the State has fallen by 45,573 this year. The dip is seen across the government, aided, and unaided sectors. In the government and aided sectors alone, there has been a fall of 37,522.
Last year, the number of students who had taken admission to Class I was 3,48,741. This came down to 3,03,168 this academic year. While the admissions to Class I in government schools declined by 15,380, in aided schools it was less by 22,142 as compared to the previous academic year. The new admissions to Class I in unaided schools also declined by 8,051.
Similar trend
The total number of students in schools (from Class I to X) too shows a similar trend. From 38,77,914 students last year, the total strength has slipped to 38,32,395, a gap of 45,519. Of the total number of students this year, 12,73,014 were in the government sector, 22,26,349 in aided, and 3,33,032 in recognised unaided schools.
The government has been claiming that student enrolments in the State have been on the rise since the Public Education Rejuvenation Mission was launched. As per the Economic Review 2021, the total number of new students in the past five years was 8.91 lakh.
In the 2021-22 academic year, there was a record increase of 28,482 children in Class I in the government and aided sectors as compared to the year before, indicating a preference for State schools during COVID-19.
Reasons unclear
Though the reasons for the decline in Class I admissions this year have not been made clear by the government, it says that in Classes II to X, there was an increase of 44,915 students in government schools, and 75,055 in aided schools, taking the total increase to 1,19,970, as per the sixth working day headcount in schools this year.
In class II, the numbers were up by 6,870, in Class III by 9,006, in Class IV by 10,245, in Class V by 32,545, in Class VI by 13,423, in Class VII by 10,190, in Class VIII by 28,791, in Class IX by 8,009, and in Class X by 891.
Of the students who took fresh admissions this year, 24% were from recognised unaided schools and the remaining from other syllabi.
Though a headcount of students is taken on the sixth working day after schools reopen on June 1, the figures had not been made public till they were released in the Assembly recently.
Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty said more programmes would be rolled out to improve academic excellence.
