‘Enrolment in BMC schools drops 59% since 2009’

Annual enrolment in Class 1 at schools run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has dropped by 59% in the last ten years — from 67,477 in 2009-2010 to

Annual enrolment in Class 1 at schools run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has dropped by 59% in the last ten years — from 67,477 in 2009-2010 to 27,918 in 2018-19.

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To make the matter worse, 257 BMC schools have shut down in the last decade, including 41 in the last academic year, the highest ever, revealed the ‘State of Municipal Education in Mumbai’ report released by Praja Foundation on Tuesday.

“Ironically, all this is happening, when municipal budgets have grown from ₹50,586 spent per student in 2014-15 to ₹60,878 in 2018-19. Even the retention rates of students studying in BMC schools show a disturbing trend,” said Nitai Mehta, managing trustee, Praja Foundation.

The retention rate in BMC schools was at 90.5% in the 2010-11 academic year whereas the same figure stands at a mere 22.3% in 2018-19. “For every 100 students that were enrolled in Class 1 in BMC schools, only 22 of them stay in school till class 10,” said Mehta. He added that results of a household survey that was commissioned to Hansa Research revealed that 87% respondents wanted to switch their children to private schools due to reasons like better health facilities, first aid, stationery and clean toilets.

The report also highlighted the work of the School Management Committees (SMCs), with the participation of teachers, parents, headmasters, education experts as well as elected representatives of local authorities to overlook basic functioning of the BMC schools. These SMCs have to meet at least once a month and the BMC councillors, elected by the corporation, raise issues regularly.

The survey, however, reveals how 74% councillors did not attend a single meeting in 2018-19 and out of those who attended the meetings, 167 councillors didn’t ask a single question on education in the same period.

A total of 185 BMC schools in the city were found to be running with 100 or above students while 56 schools had 20 or fewer students and are thus on the verge of merging into other schools. It has come to light that the enrolment in English schools that are under the public-private partnerships increased between 15-18% while the drop-out rate in such schools also seems to have dropped in the last three years.

“Data shows how taxpayers’ money is going down the drains if the education system doesn’t improve. Most importantly, we are depriving young children of education and a good future,” added Mehta.