The enrollment of students from Classes I to VIII in government schools has fallen to almost half in Madhya Pradesh during the past decade, State Minister for School Education Inder Singh Parmar told MP Assembly on December 20.

The enrollment in these classes fell from 105.30 in 2010-11 to 64.34 lakh in 2020-21, Parmar said in a written reply to a question asked by Gwalior South Congress MLA Praveen Pathak. As per the Minister's reply, the drop has been the result of free admission in private schools under Right to Education (RTE), the decline in the overall child population in the state, and the data purification due to Samagra Samajik Suraksha Mission ID (SSMID) registration.

Parmar said that the decline in enrollment was being addressed through child-wise tracking and that efforts are being made to ensure admission of students in the 6-14 age group.

As per the reply, 16.14 lakh children had got admission in Class I in 2010-11, which has now reduced to 6.96 lakh in 2020-21. Similarly, the admission in Class II declined to 8.05 lakh from 15.46 lakh, in Class III it declined from 14.54 lakh to 7.85 lakh, in Class IV it declined 13.97 lakh to 8.62 lakh, in Class V it declined from 13.15 lakh to 8.31 lakh, in Class VI it declined from 11.68 lakh to 7.81 lakh, in Class VII it declined from 11.01 lakh to 8.35 lakh and in Class VIII it declined from 9.35 lakh to 8.39 lakh.

What is interesting is that even as the enrollment dropped, the Minister's reply highlighted that spending on mid-day meals increased from Rs 91,603 lakh in 2010-11 to Rs 1,61,789 lakh in 2020-21, while the expense on free uniform distribution was Rs 32,408 in 2020-21 and Rs 39,911 in 2010-11. The spending on free book distribution was Rs 16,020 lakh in 2010-11, which went up to Rs 22,653 lakh in 2018-19 but reduced to Rs 15,436 lakh in 2020-21.