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Schools infrastructure provision (%)

98.3 97.2 95.7 94.7 91.8 89.0 82.4 75.2 57.2 53.9 52.3 36.2 34.4 28.4 10.5

Drinking Girls’ Boys’ Hand wash Electricity Library Playground Medical Computer Internet Ramp and Kitchen CWSN Functional Solar panel
water toilet toilet facility check facility facility handrails garden toilet rainwater
facilities harvesting
Source: ‘UDISE+ 2023-24

says Govinda, whose latest book Pri- 97.2 percent with sep-
mary Education in India: From Com- arate girls toilets; 92
pulsion to Fundamental Right (Rout- percent with electricity
ledge) was released last August. etc — examination of
T HE INTRODUCTION OF in India’s most popu-
school infrastructure
UDISE+ 2023-24 trumpets
lous states presents a
India’s K-12 education sys-
tem as “one of the largest in dismaying picture.
For instance in Ut-
the world with nearly 14.72 lakh (1.47 tar Pradesh (pop.244
million) schools, 98 lakh (9.8 million) million), of the state’s
teachers and 24.8 crore (248 million) 255,087 schools, a
students… which strives to maintain mere 86,115 (33.7 per-
standards and uniformity across the cent) have functional
country while giving ample scope for Karnataka classroom sans furniture & electricity computers for peda-
the country’s diverse culture and heri- gogical purposes; only
tage to grow and flourish”. Yet there is school; the almost utter neglect of vo- 4,547 have digitally equipped librar-
no dearth of evidence that the coun- cational education; nearly 10 percent ies; 39,012 schools are deprived func-
try’s education system has been se- (140,000) schools without electricity; tional electricity and 12,792 lack func-
verely damaged by consistent under- 11 percent (161,700) without libraries; tional toilets for girl children.
funding, reckless political interference 57 percent (837,900) without comput- In the notoriously lawless and
from Central and state bureaucrats er facility; and 54 percent (793,800) socio-economically backward state of
who have sidelined educationists. As without internet connectivity. This Bihar (pop.132 million), of the total
indicated above, UDISE+ 2023-24 latter deficiency in the new age of AI number of 94,686 K-12 schools, only
itself perhaps unwittingly furbishes provoked an anguished editorial in the 17,465 (18 percent) have functional
considerable evidence of shocking Times of India (January 2). computers for pedagogical purposes;
neglect of India’s huge and high-po- Although ex facie, the national in- a mere 1,214 have digitally equipped
tential human resource. frastructure provision data provided libraries; 45,836 (48.4 percent) lack
For instance, the high percentage by UDISE+ 2023-24 proclaims na- functional electricity and 7,415 don’t
of children not completing primary, tional progress — 98.3 percent of have separate girls’ toilets. Other
secondary and higher secondary schools equipped with drinking water; Hindi-belt BIMARU (Bihar, Mad-

FEBRUARY 2025 EDUCATIONWORLD 39