The total number of government schools having basic facilities has increased in the year 2021-22 as per the government’s data. When compared to the year 2018-19 we see an improvement in basic facilities from toilets, to electricity, to the internet, however, some schools still struggle with some basic infrastructure.
Let us look at the data provided by the government and see how many schools in the country have basic amenities and how the infrastructure has changed in the last three years:
Drinking water
In the year 2021-22, 98.2% of schools have drinking water available within the school premises. Whereas 1.8% of schools in the country still struggle with the same. In 2018-19, 95.8% of schools had drinking water facilities.
Toilets
When it comes to toilets, the total per cent of girls’ toilets in schools in the country is 97.5% and 96.2% of schools have boys’ toilets. There is a rise in the numbers, as in the year 2018-19, there were 95.9% and 95.1% girls and boys toilets respectively.
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Electricity
As per the government’s data, in 2021-22 89.3% of schools in India have electricity, which has increased from 76.7% in the year 2018-19. However, more than 10% of schools still struggle with electricity problems.
Computer and Internet
While there is a sharp rise of 13% in the availability of computers in the year 2021-22 compared to 2018-19, not even half of the schools still have computers. As per the data, only 47.5% of schools have the infrastructure.
On the other hand, 33.9% of the schools have internet facility, which has escalated from just 18.7% in the year 2018-19.
Playground
As many as 23% of the schools in India still do not have a playground. As per the government’s data, there is not much improvement observed in the last three years as 74.5% of schools still had playgrounds in the year 2018-19.
Budgetary allocation for the education sector witnessed a jump of 11.86% from the Financial Year 2021-22 to the Financial Year 2022-23. Priority to drinking water and sanitation in schools under Jal Jeevan Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission, and Samagra Shiksha scheme has been instrumental in providing required resources and creating these assets in schools.
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Further, under the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) component of the Samagra Shiksha, Government supports the establishment of smart classrooms, and ICT labs in schools, including support for hardware, educational software, and e-content for teaching.
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