VCK Gen secy Ravikumar urges CM Stalin to enhance budget to improve facilities in govt schools

CHENNAI: Days after the publication of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024, which highlighted the lack of infrastructure such as toilets for girl students and libraries in government schools across the state, General Secretary of VCK D Ravikumar urged Chief Minister M K Stalin to allocate additional funds in the upcoming budget to improve the infrastructure of government schools.

“It is a cause of concern. The government should look into these issues and allocate additional funds to improve the facilities in government schools across the state,” Ravikumar said in a statement, citing the recent report of ASER 2024 that was based on a field-level study conducted in 534 schools across the state.

Unlike the reports from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), which rely on information provided by school administrations, the ASER report reflects the “ground reality” and is “relatively close to the truth” as it is based on direct field research, he said.

Ravikumar highlighted a decline in the enrollment ratio, which fell from 75.7% in 2022 to 68.7% in 2024., and said following the Covid-19 pandemic, enrollment among students aged 6 to 14 in government schools had initially increased. However, this has since declined in 2024, suggesting that even parents from economically weaker sections are opting to enrol their children in private schools due to a lack of infrastructure and adequate teachers in government schools.

According to the ASER report, only 77.5% of government schools have separate toilets for girls, and of those, 11.6% are unusable. Libraries are available in 64.3% of schools, but in 22.4% of these schools, the libraries are either not in usable condition or are locked. Ravikumar has urged the education department and the CM to address these issues and take the necessary measures to improve the facilities in government schools.