Students’ transition, GER in higher education need a push in TS?

Hyderabad: Is the retention of the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) from primary to higher education in Telangana showing a downward trend?

If goings-on is any indication, the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE Plus)-2021-22, the All India Survey on Higher Education 2021-22 and the Economic Survey-2022-23 show falling in the percentage of students while transitioning from one level to another level from the secondary education level.

Further, the decline in transition is fuelled by a significant fall in the number of boys transitioning from one class to another.

Take, for example, the elementary level from Classes I to VII, the economic survey points out that the enrollment the ratio of boys was 110.3 per cent and that of girls was 110.1, making up the total enrollment ratio at the elementary level to 110.2 per cent. The transition to secondary shows an overall drop of 6 per cent, still it stood on the higher side. At the secondary level, the number of boys studying stood at 93.6 per cent and girls' percentage was 94.5, making the total 94.1 per cent. However, the falling numbers show significant drops from the senior secondary levels. The total number of boys at the senior secondary level was 63.1 per cent, and girl's percentage was 66.7. The total transition of students into senior secondary level was 64.8 per cent.

The total number of students entering into higher education from the senior secondary in Telangana stood at 39.1 per cent which is much above the national average. But, the number of boys entering higher education was down by 25.7 per cent and that of girls was down by 25.8 per cent. However, the cumulative transition from secondary to senior secondary and then to higher education shows a significant number of boys shunning entering higher education vis-a-vis girls. In turn, it is contributing to the bringing down overall number of enrollments in higher education in the state.

Corresponding to this, the college density index by the All India Survey on Higher Education 2021-22 shows that the State had 51 per cent in 2017-18 declined by one per cent in 2018-19, and stood at 53 per cent during the 2019-20 and 2020-21. However, it again declined to 52 per cent in 2021-22.

The Union Education Ministry set a target to increase the GER to 50 per cent in higher education by 2030-35.