100 pc rise in English school numbers in 10-yrs

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, May 18:

The number of primary, secondary and higher secondary English schools has doubled in the district during the last 10 to-12 years. There were nearly 300-400 English schools around a decade ago. The majority of schools were affiliated with the State Board at that time while there were a few schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (popularly known as ICSE). Their number rose to more than 800 in a decade. It has an impact on the strength of around 20 per cent to 25 per cent Marathi schools.

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Craze for English medium school enhancing

There are various reasons for the increasing English medium schools craze among parents.

President of Maharashtra English Schools Association (MESA) Prahlad Shinde said that one of the main reasons is that 25 per cent admissions seats are reserved in self-financed English schools for the children belonging to the economically weaker section of society under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

“The State Government started the RTE implementation and reimbursing their fees to the schools. So, parents who cannot afford fees, turned to admitting their children to English schools. Some education societies started English schools seeing that they would get 25 per cent students fee surely. This has affected students' strength of Marathi medium granted schools and teaching and non-teaching staff members are turning surplus,” he said.

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English schools save Govt money

Education Department officers said that parents feel that if their children pursue education in English medium schools, they have more chances of cracking national level competitive examinations like the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admissions and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Main for engineering admissions. The number of English schools was less considering the demand for admissions. The officers said that the Government gave permission to mostly English medium schools in the district to cater the need of aspirants. Also, the self financed-schools save fund of the Government since they charge fees for all category students and do not get any grants from it.

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School distance matters for admissions

A teacher from a Marathi school Sanjeev Deore said that it had been observed that in a post-Covid situation, a certain percentage of students from English schools are taking admissions to Marathi medium schools because of high fees and poor quality of education.

Sajid Ahmed, the founder general secretary of Akhila Bharatiya Urdu Shikshak Sangh said that the reason for a rise in English schools is that the schools run by local self Governing bodies are much away from their home.

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More in rural than city

The figure of English schools also rising in rural areas. Currently, more than 600 English schools are in different rural areas while the city has nearly 200 schools.

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Board-wise schools

--Board------no of schools--

--State Board----4,566

--CBSE------55

--ICSE-------05

--IB-----------01

Total-----------4,627

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Medium wise schools

Medium-----no of schools---students

English-----824---------------1,83,663

Marathi----3351---------------6,47,716

Urdu--------443---------------1,18,419

Hindi--------09-----------------------1661

total------------------------------9,51,459