Economic Survey 2023: Increase in the number of enrolment, school dropout rate witnesses a steady fall

There has been a steady decline in the school dropout rate and an increase in enrolment both in school and higher education showed the Economic Survey for 2022-23 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday showed.
Gender parity has also improved in this financial year, the survey, tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, stated.
"The Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER) in the primary enrolment in Class 1 to 5 as a percentage of the population in age six to 10 years, for girls as well as boys have improved during the financial year (FY)," .
This improvement has "reversed the declining trends between FY-17 and FY-19", it stated, adding that "the GER in upper-primary (enrolment in class 6 to 8 as a per cent of the population in age 11-13 years), which was stagnant between FY-17 and FY-19, improved in FY-22".
In corresponding age groups in primary and upper-primary levels, the GER for girls is better than that of boys, the Economic Survey for 2022-23 stated.
"In FY-22, school enrolment stood at 26.5 crore children with 19.4 lakh additional children enrolled in primary to higher-secondary levels," it said.
The survey noted that the total enrolment of Children with Special Needs (CWSN) in FY-22 stands at 22.7 lahks as compared to 21.9 lahks in FY-21, an increase of 3.3 per cent.
"The enrolments increased across all levels -- primary, upper-primary, secondary, and higher-secondary, except for the pre-primary level. At the pre-primary level, enrolment reduced from 1.1 crore in FY-21 to one crore in FY-22," it said.
"During the year, about one crore children were enrolled in pre-primary, 12.2 crore in primary, 6.7 crores in upper primary, 3.9 crores in secondary and 2.9 crores in higher secondary," it said.
School dropout rates, for both boys and girls, at all levels have witnessed a steady decline in recent years.
The availability of teachers, measured by pupil-teacher ratio, an indicator which is inversely related to improvement in quality of education, has improved at all levels continuously from FY-13 to FY-22, the survey said.