RTE Report revealed the Low Percentage of Enrolment of SC and ST Students in Schools

A Report on Right to Education (RTE) by the Union Ministry of Human Development Resource revealed that the percentage enrolment of the Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) as students in primary and upper primary is low to an unacceptable level in India.

The report also threw light on the fact that about 20 percent of the teachers teaching in different schools of the nation are not professionally qualified for teaching, following the revised guidelines issued by the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTC).

As per the report the percentage enrolment of SC and ST students in primary schools of West Bengal in past two years, was recorded as 27 and 7 percent respectively. The figure at all-India level was worse even to the status of West Bengal in terms of percentage enrollment for SC students, which stood at 19 percent in the year 2010-11. Citing example of the government-run schools of West Bengal the report also stated that 75 percent of the schools in the state had more than 35 students in one classroom. Apart from this 66 percent schools running were without playground and 67 percent were without boundaries in the state.

The report also indicates inconsistency in admissions at primary school level that is turning up to be a concern for the gender disparity index as in the past two years it accounts to 0.94; this means 94 girls for every 100 boys.

This is a complete failure of the three-year timeframe of the road-map drafted for achieving the status Education to All, which would be ending on 31 March 2013.