New Delhi: The government on Friday said there was a considerable shortage of classrooms both at elementary and secondary level schools in the country.
"It`s estimated that approximately 2.91 lakh classrooms
at elementary level and 1.77 lakh at secondary stage of
education are required," Minister of State for Human Resource
Development D Purandeswari said in a written reply to the
Rajya Sabha.
However, the minister informed that under Sarva Shikha
Abhiyan (SSA), a total of 15.93 classrooms have been
sanctioned since inception, including 2.68 lakh in 2010-11 and
2.20 lakh in 2011-12.
Replying to another question, she said only 54.31 per
cent schools in the country have common toilets, while 58.82
per cent schools have girls` toilets and 92.6 per cent schools
have drinking water facilities.
She also said that under the Jalmani Programme, the
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has provided a sum
of Rs 200 crore to install stand alone water purification
systems in rural schools.
On a question regarding the enrollment of Muslim children
in schools, Purandeswari said their number in both primary and
upper primary education has been steadily increasing over the
last few years.
The enrollment of Muslim children in primary education
has gone up from 10.49 per cent in 2007-08 to 11.03 per cent
in 2008-09 and reached 13.48 per cent in 2009-10, she said.
A similar increase was also recorded at the upper primary
level where 8.54 per cent students enrolled in 2007-08. It
rose to 9.13 per cent in 2008-09 and 11.89 per cent in
2009-10, the minister added.
PTI
