The Orissa High Court has recently rejected the State government’s decision to close around 8000 elementary and primary schools, the 2019-20 UDISE+ report reveals a huge figure. On average 1098 government schools have been closed every year in the last five years.
According to the data, a total of 69 government-run higher secondary schools (classes 11 and 12) were closed in 2019-20. According to the UDISE+ report, a total of 5,490 government schools in the state have closed during 2015-20.
While private schools have begun to grow in the previous five years, data shows that only state govt. schools have seen a drop in admissions. Though the state still manages 79 percent of the total 67,020 schools in the state, private schools account for 9.5 percent of all schools in the state, up from 5.8 percent in 2015-16.
During the period, the private sector in the state added almost 2,298 schools. According to data, the number of government-run higher secondary schools in the state fell to 246 in 2019-20 from 315 in 2018-19. The number of private-run higher secondary schools increased to 1015 in 2019-20 from 567 in 2018-19.
Because government-run schools have a greater enrolment, experts relate the sharp drop in enrolment at that level of education to falling government-run higher secondary schools.
The drop occurred because higher education in the private sector is expensive, which state students cannot pay. According to a previous ASER survey, private tuition spending in Odisha has been on the rise.
Odisha had a high drop-out percentage at the higher secondary level, according to a Union HRD ministry study (NUEPA).
