State fares poorly in ASER report
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 04 2015:
For almost all the indicators, Manipur falls far below the National averages on RTE norms and standards, said the 10th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) of North East India.
The report was released at Manipur Press Club today.
Director of Education (S) N Praveen, All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) president W Shamjai and ASER State Mentor and eminent economist Dr N Mohendro attended the report release function as chief guest, guest of honour and president respectively.
According to the latest report, Manipur falls far below the National average on RTE norms and standards in almost all the indicators.
Only 34.5 percent of Manipur Government schools were found serving mid-day meal on the day these schools were visited as compared to National average of 85.1 percent.
Across India, 21.9 percent of the surveyed Government schools have no library, but in Manipur, 82 percent of the schools do not have library.
Over half of the schools visited in Manipur could not show any document related to Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and 60 percent of the schools reported of not having a School Development Plan (SDP), which is mandatory under RTE.
The report mentioned that 98.2 percent of children in Manipur are enrolled in schools.
This rate is slightly higher than the National average of 96.7 percent.
However, only 24.4 percent of the children of Manipur are enrolled in Government schools while 73.3 percent of the children go to private schools, which is the highest rate in the country.
As such, Manipur has the lowest enrolment of students in Government schools in the country, the report said.
The ASER report further said that absenteeism of teachers and students is a major problem in Manipur.
ASER 2014 attendance data for Manipur is based on the sample of 179 Government schools.
Attendance figures for Manipur Government schools indicate that only 57 percent of enrolled primary and 52.6 percent of enrolled upper-primary children were present on the day of the survey.
Manipur's student attendance rates are significantly lower than the all India averages (71.4 pc for primary and 71.1 pc for upper primary).
There is an attendance gap of nearly 20 pc between Manipur and all India for Government upper-primary school children.
Teachers' attendance in Manipur is also lower than the National norm of 85 pc for both Government primary and upper-primary schools.