Covid-19 forced over 500 schools to shut down in Maharashtra

The number of enrolments in schools has increased by 74,856 in the academic year 2021-22. File pic

Maharashtra is among the states where hundreds of schools were shut down in the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, reveals the latest report by the United District Information System for Education (UDISE +). As per UDISE +, a total of 509 schools in the state were shut down during the academic year 2021-22.

Nearly 20,000 schools were shut down across the country according to the UDISE report 2021-22. The states where schools closed include Madhya Pradesh (7,689 schools), Odisha (1,894), Andhra Pradesh (1,395), Uttar Pradesh (1143), Punjab (994), and Maharashtra (509).

The total of 1,10,114 schools across the state has dropped to 1,09,605, recording a decline of 509. This, when the state education department and various stakeholders, especially teachers' bodies, are engaged in a debate over the state's alleged plan to shut down schools which have less than 20 students.

A new trend?

But the decline seems to be a new trend, as the number of schools in the past decade has shown an increase. As per data from the report, the total number of schools in Maharashtra increased from 1,00,081 in 2011-12 to 1,10,114 in 2020-21, recording an increase of 10.1 per cent.

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"The grouping or clustering of existing schools or even a shortage of students in the current academic year are the reasons for the closure of government and aided schools. This can be attributed to the Covid-19 induced lockdown which led to the migration of many people to their native places," said an official from the state education department. He added, "Now that we are back, things will fall into place soon. The number of enrolments, if you see the data, has increased."

Due to the shutting down of schools, the number of teachers, too, has declined by over 15,000, the report has revealed. Overall, across all states in the country, due to the closure of schools, the number of teachers declined by 1.95 per cent in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21.

Only silver lining

The only silver lining in the report is the increase in the number of student enrolments. The number of enrolments in schools has increased by 74,856 in the academic year 2021-22. Overall across the country, the UDISE+ report also highlighted that enrolment in private schools continued to decline, while the number of students joining government schools has increased.

"The trend shows that parents are choosing government schools over private ones due to exorbitant fees and the financial constraints many are facing post-pandemic," said Gayatri Sadanand, parent of a Std V student and resident of Lower Parel.

Sunil Shejule, coordinator of Marathi Shala Sansthachalak Sangh and a member of Marathi Abhyaas Kendra said, "The closing of schools due to poor enrolment was what the state government has been talking about. What now, when the number of enrolments is increasing while the number of teachers is declining, and so is the number of schools? We want to hear it from the education
minister himself."