Lok Sabha Question No. 3728 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-19
Subject: Enrolment in MDMS
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: PRATHAP SIMHA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3728 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2018

## Enrolment in MDMS

## 3728.   SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- a) whether  any  Panel  has  expressed  concerns  about  the  declining  enrolment  in  schools covered under Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) and if so, the details thereof;
- b) whether new admissions to Government primary schools had come down by 15 Per cent while they had gone up by 33 Per cent in Private Schools between 2010-11 and 2014-15 and if so, the details thereof;
- c) whether the MDM Scheme has not made any significant impact on fresh enrolments in State-run Primary Schools; and if so, the reasons in the fall in enrolment in such Schools ;
- d) whether  mushrooming  of  Private  Institutions  had  hit  enrolments  and  that  some  States wanted to set up new English-medium Primary Schools; and
- e) if so, the requisite measures taken/ being taken by the Government to address the issue?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

- (a) to (d):         Concerns about declining enrolment in schools have been raised from time to time, as per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data for the years 2010-11 to 2014-15 there is a decline of 15% in the enrolment in government schools at the primary level from 9,40,88,108 to 7,99,52,199 and there is an increase of 18% in the enrolment in private schools at primary level from 3,82,35,561 to 4,66,26,355. There are various reasons for the decline in the enrolment at the primary level including the reduction in the rate of growth of child population.
- (e): The  Government  considers  all  important  issues  at  various  forums  such  as  the meetings of Programme Approval Board at the time of appraisal and approval of Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B) of States and UTs, through Regional Workshops and Joint Review Missions during the implementation of the scheme.

The  Government  has  also  taken  care  of  Quality  education  and  improvement  in  learning levels at the elementary stage which is one of the key objectives of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

(SSA),  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme.   Some  of  the  important  initiatives  taken  are  as under:

- i) The  State  Governments  and  UT  Administrations  are  supported  on  several interventions  under  SSA  to  improve  teaching  standards,  including  regular  inservice teachers' training, induction training for newly recruited teachers, training of all untrained teachers to acquire professional qualifications, academic support for teachers through block and cluster resource centres, continuous and comprehensive evaluation system to equip the teacher to measure pupil performance  and  provide  remedial  action  wherever  required,  and  teacher  and school grants for development of appropriate teaching-learning materials, etc.
2. ii) Under  SSA,  posts  of  teachers  are  sanctioned  to  ensure  the  stipulated  PupilTeacher Ratio (PTR) and the Central Government is constantly encouraging the States and UTs  to fill up all the posts of teachers and redeploy them to maintain suitable PTR in all schools.
3. iii) Government has launched Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat (PBBB), a sub-programme under  the  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA)  to  support  States  and  UTs  to  improve early  grade  reading,  writing  &comprehension  and  early  mathematics  in  classes I&II.
4. iv) The Government has also launched Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA), interalia,  as  a  sub-component  of  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA)  and  Rashtriya Madhyamik  Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), to motivate and engage children of the age  group  of  6-18  yearsin  Science,  Mathematics  and  Technology  through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model  building, etc. both through inside and outside classroom activities.
- v) The  NCERT  has  developed  Performance  Indicators  for  Elementary  Education (PINDICS) to track teacher performance and attendance in Government schools. PINDICS have been shared with State Governments and UTs to assess teacher's performance.

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