The report said that in contrast to the national trend of increase in enrollment in government schools, there has been an increase in admissions in private schools in Odisha.
Kamala Prasad Mohapatra, an educationist, said, “It seems that the people of Odisha do not have enough faith in government schools for which enrollment in government institutions is falling, despite the financial problems caused by the pandemic.”
“The government is busy transforming schools by improving the cosmetic infrastructure of the schools like wall painting and furniture. But the issues like massive teacher vacancies, proper training and pedagogy are being neglected over the years, sending people to government schools instead of schools. Being forced to opt for private schools. The government should work to regain the trust of parents in the government school education system.”
Experts also questioned the enrollment figures in the report, saying that many parents across the state have shifted their children to government schools after the pandemic. “The figures in the report are a bit confusing. From the ground report we have seen that many parents shifted their children from private to government schools due to the financial stress caused by the pandemic. Children were withdrawn from private English medium schools but also from Odia medium private schools,” said Anil Pradhan, convener, RTE Forum, a voluntary organization working in the education sector.
Dependence on private tuition in Odisha has increased from 57.5% in 2018 to 66.2% in 2021, a jump of 8.6% regardless of grade, school type and gender. Children from the most disadvantaged families showed the greatest increase in the proportion of children taking tuitions.
On access to smartphones during school closures, the report said that 19.2% of students in Odisha were unable to access them for their studies during the pandemic, while 64.6% of children have at least one smartphone at home. The report said that in 2018, around 26.1% of households had smartphones, while this increased to 49.3% in 2020 and 64.6% in 2021.
“The expansion of smartphone availability in homes does not automatically translate into children’s access to smartphones. In all grades, although more than two-thirds of all children enrolled have a smartphone at home, only a quarter have It has full access to its studies, while close to half has partial access, and the rest of the quarter has no access,” the report said.
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