Only 1 in 4 primary school students in Bihar attend classes: Survey

NEW DELHI: Only 23% of enrolled students attend government primary schools in Bihar, according to a report by Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, a volunteer group of unorganised workers.

The report found that 7% of primary schools in Bihar function without buildings and that only 20% schools had electricity, water and toilets. Moreover, most of the students do not have textbooks despite the government policy of providing textbook money directly to the students’ accounts.

The report was based on a random sampling survey of 81 lower and upper primary schools across 11 blocks of Araria and Katihar districts in Bihar.

Bihar Education: ‘Hidden catastrophe’

The survey found that only 23% of enrolled students attended primary schools in the state. This figure dropped to below 20% in upper primary schools.

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It said that government school teachers repeatedly inflate the attendance figures of students but, despite this, the attendance rate is only 44% for lower primary schools and 40% for upper primary schools. According to the report, many students are opting to go for private tuition rather than attending government schools.

During the report release, Jean Dreze, economist and visiting professor at the Department of Economics, Ranchi University, called this absenteeism “a hidden catastrophe and a hidden crisis” in Bihar.

“Bihar’s schooling system is the Intensive Care Unit because if the kids are not coming to school then there’s no point in having a schooling system. There has been very little focus on the school system for the past 50 to 70 years. The weird thing is that only 20 percent of students are attending the schools but no one seems to notice or talk about this…Bihar is a unique case among Indian states in its rank failure in giving basic quality education to children in government schools ,” said Dreze.

“There could be many reasons for this absenteeism. One is dysfunctional schools. If schools are not functioning, why should students come? The Covid-19 lockdown could have had an effect. These students haven’t been to school for two years and now they don’t feel like coming back. Third reason is private tuition. This is clear that some students who are missing schools are opting to go for private tuitions. Fourth reason would be the failure of the government in that maybe just the students' names are there on record but these students might actually be studying in private schools,” said Dreze.

No buildings, no toilets

The report found many inadequacies in Bihar’s school system. Only 22% of upper primary schools in the state have electricity, water and toilets. Toilets in “good condition” were only present in 16% of the primary schools.

It said that 7% of all primary and upper primary schools in Bihar had no building at all.

The report found that all of the 81 surveyed schools violated the Right to Education (RTE) Act. It said that primary schools have only 67% of the required teachers as per the RTE Act. Upper primary schools had only 41% of the required teachers.

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According to the report, teachers in half of the surveyed schools said that students in Classes 3 and 5 forgot how to read or write. Yet, there was no effort to address this issue.

The report also found that 20% of schools did not have the adequate facilities for preparing mid-day meals. Moreover, schools in Bihar provide eggs, a vital source of protein, only once during the week. Even then, it is opposed by local Brahminical groups who call the eggs “impure”, the report said.

Textbooks: Failure of direct benefit transfer

The report also called the Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT) system for providing textbooks a failure. Through the DBT method, students are given money for textbooks directly to their bank accounts. However, the survey has found that most underprivileged parents opt to spend this money on food or other necessities rather than on textbooks. Thus leaving hordes of students from the poorest areas without textbooks.

“The system of DBT for textbooks has been a failure. They are giving money for textbooks in the students' accounts. This imposes a cruel choice on a poor family who would rather seek to buy food with that money. This has led to most of the schools having many children without textbooks,” said Dreze.