Gross Enrollment Ratio improves at all levels of school education in 2021-22: UDISE

Ministry of Education has said that Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) has improved at primary, upper primary, and higher secondary levels of school education in 2021-22 as compared to 2020-21. It said, GER in higher secondary has made a significant improvement from 53.8 percent in 2021-21 to 57.6 percent in 2021-22. This was disclosed in a report on Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE) 2021-22 on school education in India, released by the Ministry. In 2021-22, the total number of students enrolled in school education from primary to higher secondary stood at 25.57 crore as compared to 25.38 crore enrolment in 2020-21, registering an increase of 19.36 lakh enrolments. The total enrolment of Children with Special Needs in 2021-22 stands at 22.67 lakh as compared to 21.91 lakh in 2020-21, showing an improvement of 3.45 percent over 2020-21.

The Ministry also said, over 95 lakh teachers are engaged in school education during 2021-22 out of which more than 51 percent are female teachers. Further, in 2021-22, the Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) stood at 26 for primary, 19 for upper primary, 18 for secondary, and 27 for higher secondary showing an improvement since 2018-19.

In 2021-22, over 12.29 crore girls are enrolled in primary to higher secondary showing an increase of 8.19 lakh as compared to the enrolment of girls in 2020-21.

It also said that the total number of schools in 2021-22 stood at 14.89 lakhs as compared to 15.09 lakhs in 2020-21. The decline in total schools is mainly due to closure of private and other management schools and the clustering of schools by various States.