Mumbai, Aug 6 (IANS): The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Centre, highlighting a NITI Aayog report that lays bare the critical state of India's school infrastructure.

In an editorial in its mouthpiece, 'Saamana', the party said, "The editorial noted that as Gen Z youth take to the streets to protest against systemic failures in education, frequent paper leaks, and rising unemployment, the government’s own think tank has exposed severe structural deficiencies. While the paper-leak scams commercialising the education sector had already brought shame upon the BJP-led government at the Centre, the NITI Aayog report has now forced the government to hide its face in embarrassment."

Despite steady population growth, the NITI Aayog report revealed that approximately 1,00,000 schools have shut down nationwide, while student dropout rates prior to Class 12 have reached a staggering 40 per cent. Statistics indicated that out of every ten primary school enrollees, nearly four drop out before completing higher secondary education, said the editorial.

The editorial highlighted that over the past eight to nine years, around 92,000 schools have closed. Although official channels attribute part of this reduction to school consolidation due to low enrollment, overall school count dropped by nearly 1,00,000 despite a growing population. More than 1,00,000 primary schools nationwide function with only a single teacher responsible for handling all subjects across Classes 1 through 4. Conversely, 7,993 schools currently report zero enrolled students despite maintaining active staff. Out of 24.69 crore students enrolled across 14.71 lakh schools, primary school enrollment stands at 90.9 per cent but sharply plummets to 58.4 per cent by the higher secondary level (Class 12).

The editorial argued that widespread discontent -- demonstrated during recent youth protests at Jantar Mantar over paper leaks and exam corruption -- has severely undermined claims of global educational leadership ("Vishwaguru").

Identifying poverty and escalation in educational expenses as the main drivers of the high dropout rate, the Thackeray camp noted that higher secondary education costs three to five times more than primary schooling. Burdened by rising tuition fees, exam fees, and travel costs, many families are forced to pull children out of school early, while the Central Education Ministry remains passive.

Questioning the efficacy of existing policy protections, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena asked, "If the students of this country are destined for such distress, what good is the Right to Education Act - should it be thrown into the fire?"

(IANS)

This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.