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EDUCATION
10.19 It is difficult to gauge the real time impact of repeated lockdowns on education sector
because the latest available comprehensive official data dates back to 2019-20. This provides
the longer time pre-COVID trends but does not tell us how the trend may have been impacted
by COVID-19 induced restrictions.
10.20 During initial COVID-19 restrictions, as a precautionary measure to protect the students
from COVID-19, schools and colleges were closed across India . This posed a new challenge
4
for the Government in terms of continuity of education.
School Infrastructure
10.21 An assessment for the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20 for which data is available reveals
that the number of recognized schools & colleges continued to increase between 2018-19 and
2019-20, except for primary & upper primary schools (Table 2).
5
Table 2: Total number of schools, colleges, and universities in India
Particulars 2018-19 2019-20
Primary & Upper Primary schools (in lakhs) 12.37 12.22
Secondary and Sr. Secondary Schools (in lakhs) 2.76 2.85
Colleges (numbers) 39931 42343
Universities (numbers) 993 1043
Source: Ministry of Education
10.22 Basic facilities in schools also improved in 2019-20 over earlier years (Figure 6). Toilets
(girls or boys), drinking water, and hand-washing facilities are now available in most of Government
schools (10.32 lakh) . Priority to drinking water and sanitation in schools under Jal Jeevan Mission,
6
Swachh Bharat Mission as well as under Samagra Shiksha Scheme have been instrumental in
providing required resources and creating these assets in schools. As on 19.01.2022, under Jal Jeevan
Mission 8,39,443 schools were provided tap water supply. Computers and digital connectivity,
however, remained low. Under the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) component of
the Samagra Shiksha Scheme, Government supports the establishment of smart classrooms, and ICT
labs in schools, including support for hardware, educational software and e-content for teaching.
10.23 Further, availability of teachers, measured by Pupil Teacher Ratio, an indicator whose
decrease signals improvement in quality of education, has improved at all levels continuously from
2012-13 to 2019-20: from 34 to 26 at primary, 23 to 18 at upper primary, 30 to 18 at secondary, and
39 to 26 at higher secondary level. The improvement in the number of schools, teachers’ availability,
and facilities in schools is expected to help improve enrolment and reduce dropout rates.
4 After 15 October 2020, State/ UT Governments were given the flexibility for re-opening of schools and coaching institutions in a graded manner.
5 15000 Primary & Upper Primary schools declined.
6 UDISE+ data comes with more than one-year lag; so data is available up to 2019-20.
