Now Reading: Government school closures hit poor students hardest
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Government school closures hit poor students hardest
Madhya Pradesh's December audit found 7.37 lakh children with no school records at all, mostly in tribal districts. Another 11.38 lakh are at imminent risk of dropping out, and 1.23 lakh are…
The Story in Brief
Madhya Pradesh's December audit found 7.37 lakh children with no school records at all, mostly in tribal districts. Another 11.38 lakh are at imminent risk of dropping out, and 1.23 lakh are already recorded as dropouts. The state's own outreach programmes missed three-quarters of a million children. Nationwide, The Hindu reports NITI Aayog data showing roughly 94,000 government schools closed in the past decade, contributing to a 2.26 crore drop in enrolment. Government schools' share of total enrolment fell from 71% in 2005 to 49.24% in 2024-25. The closures hit SC, ST, and poor Muslim households hardest, with girls often withdrawn first when schools vanish.
The Indian Opinion
The term 'rationalisation' sanitises a policy that shuts the schools of the poorest. Blaming States for closures while the Centre makes RTE funding conditional on NEP compliance is hollow. The data shows this is not demography but administrative choice. The test: will the Union government enforce the RTE's neighbourhood-school mandate and link school closures to a loss of central funds?
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
