Civic schools need ideas beyond
nat’l educational boards
Last week, the BMC’s education committee, which has jurisdiction over the municipal schools, proposed to get affiliations from the two national education boards for one school each.
Enrolments at BMC schools have been falling though these institutions charge no fees and also provide free meals and study materials. The number of new students registering for Class 1 at municipal schools fell from 63,392 in 2008 to 30,075 in 2017, according to data from Praja Foundation, a group that has been tracking Mumbai’s municipal schools.
The decline in annual enrolments and the movement of students to private schools has caused the total number of students in municipal schools to fall from 4,04,251 in 2008-09 to 3,11,663 in 2017-18. And while the annual dropout rate at the schools have declined from 12 per 100 in 2013-14 to 5 per 100 in 2017-18, the number of children who left municipal schools in 2017-18 – mostly to join a private institution – was 15,978.
During this period, over 200 municipal schools either closed down or were merged with other institutions because there were not enough students. If current trends continue, the number of students at these schools will drop below 1,50,000 in 2022-23.
Some of the decline in municipal schools can be attributed to changes in Mumbai’s birth rate, with a general decline in the number of children in the school-going age. The number of children in schools declined from 8,98,953 in 2013-14 to 7,96,814 in 2017-18 but data shows that enrolment in private schools has increased during the same period. Unified District Information on School Education (UDISE) data shows that enrolments in private unaided schools in Mumbai increased from 3,14,931 in 2013-14 to 3,26,507 in 2017-18.
The BMC has been desperately trying to stop the flight of students from its schools. Last year, the BMC planned to affiliate 25 of its schools to the new Maharashtra International Education Board (MIEB) started by the state government. The plans were cancelled after high affiliation fees and teacher training costs. The municipal corporation recently started a campaign on social media forum for convince parents to send children to their schools. It has spent nearly ₹100 crore to repair and reconstruct its schools. Schools have been ‘beautified’.
Funds are not in short supply: the BMC spent ₹51,000 annually on each student in 2017-18 and average spending is expected to increase to ₹65,290 in the current academic year.
Source | Hindustan Times | 17th September 2019
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