Image Source: TRIBUNE

Despite a number of enrolment drives being run by the UT Administration, the net enrolment ratio continues to be lowest at both elementary and secondary levels in government schools in J&K. This has been revealed in the School Quality Education Index (SEQI) 2019 report of the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.

The net enrolment ratio (NER) in government schools at the elementary level has shown a decline. The NER was 68.9 percent in 2015-16 and decreased to 67.3 percent in 2016-17. Apart from J&K, Sikkim, Nagaland, and Jharkhand have also registered a decrease of five percent or more in their NER over the period. As far as the NER at the secondary level in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, it has not seen any improvement. In 2015-16, the NER at the secondary level was 55.7 percent and in 2016-17, it decreased to 47.1 percent.

The decreasing enrolment ratio at both elementary and secondary levels has exposed the claims of the successive governments in J&K about the increase in the enrolment in schools over the years.