Bihar made gains in education in 2023-24, adding more schools than any other state, but lagged in providing basic facilities such as electricity and toilets, according to a Moneycontrol analysis of data from the government’s Unified District Information System for Education portal.
While the state added 3,000 schools in FY24, a 3.5 percent increase over the previous year, the percentage of schools with functional electricity, girls' toilets, and drinking water facilities declined
Among the larger states, Bihar was the only one with more than 20 percent of schools lacking access to electricity and nearly five percent lacking access to drinking water, as against a national average of 10 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.
The situation has worsened over the year. Over 80 percent of schools had functional electricity in 2022-23, but this declined to 78.3 percent in 2023-24.
This marks the most significant drop in electricity usage in schools in all the major states. Overall, India recorded a rise in the ratio of schools having functional electricity to 89.7 percent from 89.5 percent earlier.
Seven of 18 large states, which account for 90 percent of the country’s population, recorded a decline in schools with functional electricity, and the trend was not only restricted to poorer states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.'
Southern shocker
Down South, in Tamil Nadu, the ratio of schools with functional electricity was down a percentage point from 2022-23, while it had declined 0.4 percentage points for Karnataka and Telangana.
Tamil Nadu and Telangana witnessed a 1 percent rise in schools in 2023-24.
However, Telangana and Tamil Nadu had over 90 percent of schools with functional electricity, whereas the ratio was just 85 percent in Madhya Pradesh.
Bihar was a laggard when it came to functional toilets and drinking water facilities as well.
The ratio of schools with functional women’s toilets was down one percentage point to 92.2 percent for Bihar while drinking water facilities were down 0.1 percentage point to 93.3 percent.
Tamil Nadu, although it had a higher proportion of schools with girls’ toilets and drinking water facilities than Bihar, the decline was more pronounced.
The number of schools in the Southern state with functional girls’ toilets declined by 1.1 percentage points, while the number of schools with drinking water facilities was down 1.4 percentage points.
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