34% students shifted to govt schools take admission in pre-board classes in Haryana
Haryana has witnessed a reverse trend in school enrolment amid the Covid-19 pandemic as 1.46 lakh students from private schools switched over to government ones this ongoing session, logging a sharp rise of 8% in the admission as per data provided by the Haryana school education department.
Of these, 50,256 have taken admission in classes 11 and 9, which accounts 34% of the total new admissions. As many as 35,598 students, including 23,114 boys and 12, 484 girls took admission in Class 11 and 14, 658 students in Class 9, comprising 9,302 boys and 5,356 girls. Moreover, 19,902 students who shifted from private schools to government schools had taken admission in board classes 10 and 12 in Haryana. The figure of Class 12 students who moved to government schools stood at 7,877 and that of Class 10 is 12,025. Only 411 students have moved to government schools in Class 1.
A total of 13,227 students have shifted from private schools to government schools in Hisar, followed by 9,798 in Faridabad, and 9,589 in Bhiwani.
At least 2,688 students shifted to government schools in Panchkula, which is lowest in the state.
Satpal Ahlawat, a resident of Jhajjar, said he moved both his kids to a government school due to the pandemic because private schools were charging high fees without conducting online classes on time.
“Children have suffered a lot during online classes this year and they are unable to retain attention as compared to offline classes. While seeing all the pros and cons, I have shifted my son, who studies in Class 5 and daughter, a Class 7 student, to a government school,” he added.
Nand Kishore Verma, assistant director, Haryana secondary school education department, said over 34% students, who have switched over to government schools are in classes 9 and 11.
“We have recorded an improvement of 8%in enrolment this year. Students are choosing government schools due to improvement in education standards and infrastructure, apart from Covid-19 crisis. Income of people has declined during the pandemic and they have realised that good education can be achieved in government schools too,” Verma added.
He said both the toppers in Haryana board’s Class 12 exams are from government schools in the 2019-20 academic session.
“We have started online classes on Edusat and local cable TV channels free of cost. Class 12 board results show that government schools have given a tough competition to private ones as the difference in their pass percentage was less than 1.5%,” the assistant director said.
