Need to create capacity at secondary, higher secondary levels: Secy

School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar calls for more secondary and higher secondary schools to address dropout rates and align with NEP 2020 enrolment targets

Calling for structural reforms in the higher levels of school education, School Education and Literacy Secretary Sanjay Kumar said there is a need to expand the system by establishing more secondary and higher secondary schools.

 

Addressing the Annual Business Summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi, Kumar said that while the gross enrolment ratio (GER) is 93 per cent, the larger concern remains that out of every 100 children who join in Class 1, only 75 take the Class 10 exam, and just 56 remain by Class 12.

 

“So in the run-up from Class 1 to 12, I am losing about 44 children out of every 100,” he added.

   

He highlighted that one reason behind this could be the country’s disproportionate focus on elementary education, which goes up to Class 8.

 

“There are a large number of primary schools at the bottom, but when you look at secondary and higher secondary schools, it goes up like a pyramid. We need to have a cylindrical system, where if you have 100 children in Class 1, you must have 100 children in Class 12,” he said.

 

Another contributing factor, he said, is the prevalence of primary or middle-only schools.

 

“For example, once you finish Class 5 in a school, you may need to go to a different school for Class 6. Similarly, after Class 8, when you move to Class 9, again the geography of the school changes,” he explained.

 

Kumar added that the department is seeing the highest number of dropouts between Classes 5 and 6 and between Classes 8 and 9. 

 

He said the way forward is to ensure that every child remains within the schooling system, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP).

 

“The NEP 2020 envisages that by 2030, the GER for secondary education should be 100 per cent. That is, everyone must have at least 15 years of education—if you include three years of pre-primary classes,” he said.

 

The policy focuses on providing competency-based skills to students and enhancing teacher education. “Continuous professional development—50 hours of training for every teacher every year—is what NEP 2020 envisages, and this is extremely important for us,” he added.

 

On the medium of instruction, Kumar said there needs to be consensus on teaching in the student’s mother tongue or regional language, while also ensuring that English is taught as a language.