Question : Enrolment in MDMS

a) whether any Panel has expressed concerns about the declining enrolment in schools
covered under Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) and if so, the details thereof;
b) whether new admissions to Government primary schools had come down by 15 Per cent
while they had gone up by 33 Per cent in Private Schools between 2010-11 and 2014-15
and if so, the details thereof;
c) whether the MDM Scheme has not made any significant impact on fresh enrolments in
State-run Primary Schools; and if so, the reasons in the fall in enrolment in such Schools ;
d) whether mushrooming of Private Institutions had hit enrolments and that some States
wanted to set up new English-medium Primary Schools; and
e) if so, the requisite measures taken/ being taken by the Government to address the issue?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE
MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

(a) to (d): Concerns about declining enrolment in schools have been raised from time
to time, as per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data for the
years 2010-11 to 2014-15 there is a decline of 15% in the enrolment in government schools
at the primary level from 9,40,88,108 to 7,99,52,199 and there is an increase of 18% in the
enrolment in private schools at primary level from 3,82,35,561 to 4,66,26,355. There are
various reasons for the decline in the enrolment at the primary level including the reduction
in the rate of growth of child population.
(e): The Government considers all important issues at various forums such as the
meetings of Programme Approval Board at the time of appraisal and approval of Annual
Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B) of States and UTs, through Regional Workshops and Joint
Review Missions during the implementation of the scheme.
The Government has also taken care of Quality education and improvement in learning
levels at the elementary stage which is one of the key objectives of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
(SSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Some of the important initiatives taken are as
under:
i) The State Governments and UT Administrations are supported on several
interventions under SSA to improve teaching standards, including regular inservice
teachers’ training, induction training for newly recruited teachers, training
of all untrained teachers to acquire professional qualifications, academic support
for teachers through block and cluster resource centres, continuous and
comprehensive evaluation system to equip the teacher to measure pupil
performance and provide remedial action wherever required, and teacher and
school grants for development of appropriate teaching-learning materials, etc.
ii) Under SSA, posts of teachers are sanctioned to ensure the stipulated Pupil-
Teacher Ratio (PTR) and the Central Government is constantly encouraging the
States and UTs to fill up all the posts of teachers and redeploy them to maintain
suitable PTR in all schools.
iii) Government has launched Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat (PBBB), a sub-programme
under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to support States and UTs to improve
early grade reading, writing &comprehension and early mathematics in classes
I&II.
iv) The Government has also launched Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA), interalia,
as a sub-component of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya
Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), to motivate and engage children of the
age group of 6-18 yearsin Science, Mathematics and Technology through
observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, etc. both
through inside and outside classroom activities.
v) The NCERT has developed Performance Indicators for Elementary Education
(PINDICS) to track teacher performance and attendance in Government schools.
PINDICS have been shared with State Governments and UTs to assess teacher’s
performance.
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