Haryana has witnessed a reverse trend in school enrolment amid Covid-19 pandemic as students from private schools are switching over to government ones.
As many as 43,293 private school students have moved to government schools during the 2020-21 academic session across the state, revealed the figures provided by the Haryana school education department.
A total of 3,434 private school students have shifted to government institutions in Hisar, 2,876 in Karnal, 2,604 in Fatehabad, 2,502 in Sonepat, 2,453 in Gurugram, 2,369 in Sirsa, 2,301 in Panipat, 2,299 in Yamunanagar, 2,249 in Kaithal, 2,132 in Jind, 2,122 in Rewari, 2,074 in Faridabad, 1,950 in Bhiwani, 1,840 in Kurukshetra, 1,655 in Ambala, 1,555 in Rohtak, 1,502 in Jhajjar, 1,400 in Panchkula, 1,290 in Palwal, 1,206 in Mahendergarh, 929 in Nuh and 546 in Charkhi Dadri.
An official, who wished not to be named, said more than 87,000 students, who had last year studied in private schools, have applied for admission in government schools this year.
“Admission of these students will be confirmed on our website after they deposit their school leaving certificates. Most of the private schools are not issuing these certificates over fee issues. 21.49 lakh students have been enrolled in government schools against last year’s 20.97 lakh,” the official added.
On private schools not issuing transfer certificates and other documents to students, the official said a school has no authority to deny documents to a student when he/she wants to move to another school.
{{/usCountry}}On private schools not issuing transfer certificates and other documents to students, the official said a school has no authority to deny documents to a student when he/she wants to move to another school.
{{/usCountry}}“If any legitimate claim is pending, the school has to move court for realising the same, but the future of children cannot be affected,” he added.
Haryana elementary education department director Pradeep Dagar said students were shifting to government schools from private ones 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. This year, both the toppers in Haryana board’s Class 12 exams are from government schools. 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%,” Dagar added.