More than 20,000 schools shut down across the country during 2020-21 while the number of teachers also declined by 1.95 per cent in comparison to the previous year, according to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) report on school education in India for 2021-22.

What is UDISE+?

• The Indian school education system is one of the largest in the world with nearly 14.89 lakh schools, more than 95 lakh teachers and nearly 26.52 crore students of pre-primary to higher secondary level from varied socio-economic backgrounds.

• A robust, real time and credible information collection mechanism is an essential prerequisite for an objective evaluation of the system, based on which specific interventions for improvement can be designed.

• The Unified District Information on School Education (UDISE) was initiated in 2012-13 by the ministry of education by integrating the District Information System for Education (DISE) and Secondary Education Management Information System (SEMIS).

• With an aim to overcome the limitations of the UDISE system, the Department of School Education Literacy (DoSEL) has developed the UDISE+ system with many unique features and introduced it from the reference year 2018-19.

• In UDISE+ system, improvements have been made particularly in the areas related to data capture, data mapping and data verification.

• In UDISE+ 2021-22, additional data on important indicators such as digital library, peer learning, hard spot identification, number of books available in school library, etc have been collected for the first time to align with the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 initiatives. 

Key points of the report:

• The total enrolment in 2021-22 from primary to higher secondary levels of school education was a little over 25.57 crore. Enrolment for boys was 13.28 crore and that of the girls was 12.28 crore. This was an increase by more than 19 lakh over 2020-21.

• Total number of Scheduled Caste enrolment increased to 4.82 crore in 2021-22 as compared to 4.78 crore in 2020-21. Similarly, total Scheduled Tribe enrolment increased to 2.51 crore in 2021-22 from 2.49 crore in 2020-21. Total Other Backward students also increased to 11.48 crore in 2021-22 from 11.35 crore in 2020-21.

• Although the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is cross-cutting, this is particularly noticed in the enrolment of young and vulnerable kids like pre-primary classes may be attributed to postponement of admissions due to COVID-19.

• The total number of teachers has declined by 1.95 per cent in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21. Total number of teachers in 2021-22 was 95.07 lakh, decreased from 97.87 lakh in 2020-21. 

• Data shows that all the major infrastructural facilities, including electricity connection, library, internet, ramp, hand wash, drinking water, etc, have improved in 2021-22 compared to the previous year. 

• The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) compares the enrolment in a specific level of education to the population of the age-group which is most age-appropriate for that level of education. For example, the GER of primary is student enrolment in Class 1 to 5 expressed as a percentage of population in age group 6-10 years. Similarly, GER of upper primary is enrolment in Class 6-8 expressed as a percentage of population in age group 11-13 years, and so on. 

• Since changes in GER are usually not much on a year-to-year basis, its movement in the long run is of interest. 

• The GER of primary was 101.3 per cent in 2018-19 which increased to 104.8 per cent in 2021-22. The GER for upper primary in 2021-22 is 94.7 per cent. It was 87.74 per cent in 2018-19. The GER for secondary has reached 79.6 per cent in 2021-22, from 76.9 per cent in 2018-19. 

• The Gender Parity Index (GPI) of GER shows the representation of females in school education is in line with the representation of girls in population of corresponding age group. The GPI value at all level of school education are one or more implying more participation of girls in the school education.

• Total enrolment of Children with Special Needs (CWSN) in 2021-22 stands at 22.67 lakh as compared to 21.91 lakh in 2020-21 showing an improvement of 3.45 per cent over 2020-21.

• Only 44.85 per cent schools had computer facilities while nearly 34 per cent had internet connection. 

• While only 27 per cent schools have special toilets for children with special needs (CSWN), over 49 per cent of them have ramps with handrails.

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