Too many schools sans blackboards

NEW DELHI: It is difficult to think of a school without blackboards. But the reality of our education system is that despite being enrolled in schools, lakhs of students in India still haven't seen a blackboard.

An analytical report on elementary education brought out by the National Institute for Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA) shows that 81,617 schools in the country do not have blackboards. The report, released by HRD minister Arjun Singh on Monday, indicates that though the Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan (SSA) is yielding positive results, the country still has a long way to go in achieving the target of providing universal education. It has been found that a large number of schools lack basic facilities like drinking water, toilets and electricity and only half of them have playgrounds. Nearly half of them do not have boundary walls. About 41,000 schools do not have buildings.

The report said only one out of three schools had separate toilets for girls. As many as 1,07,842 schools in the country have a single classroom of which 94.73% are located in rural areas.

More than half the primary, upper primary and elementary schools are located beyond 10 km from the block headquarters.

India has an average of 41 students per classroom but this ratio is exceptionally high in Bihar (91 students per classroom), UP (65), Assam (59), West Bengal (57) and Jharkhand (57).

The number of schools with computers is growing. More than 93,000 schools imparting elementary education had computers in place and Maharashtra has the highest number of schools - 14,021 - with computers.