As School Building In Bengaluru Collapses, Here's A Look At The State Of School Infrastructure In India

The building of a nursery school run by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in Bengaluru collapsed on 27 November 2023.?

As many as 90 children were enrolled in this English medium nursery school, and the situation could have resulted in a major tragedy, but it was averted since the building collapsed before classes began.?

But this incident revealed yet again the state of school infrastructure in India.?

Reuters

State of school infrastructure in India: Statistics?

1. Dilapidated and invisible buildings?

According to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) Report for the year 2019-20:?

• 35 schools have dilapidated buildings?
• The buildings of 4,417 schools are under construction

BCCL

2. Electricity?

The UDISE+ Report also said that only 77.34% of government schools nationwide have a functional electricity connection.?

This percentage is slightly higher for government-aided and private unaided schools, at 84.23% and 89.23%.?

3. Toilet facilities?

According to DISE statistics:?

• 86% of schools in India have boys’ toilets, while 91% have girls’ toilets.?
• Most of the states in India have toilets in more than 80% of their schools.?

While this is an encouraging statistic, it does not reflect the maintenance and cleanliness of the toilets.?

4. Internet facilities?

Approximately 87.72% of the schools across the country do not have internet facilities. Only 11% of government schools, 42.2% of government-aided schools, 50.16% of private schools, and 21.42% of other schools have internet facilities.?

Why is India lagging behind in school infrastructure??

Corruption and Mismanagement?

Corruption results in diversion of funds meant for education infrastructure, leading to suboptimal outcomes.?

Further, there may be mismanagement of resources, which hinders the proper development and maintenance of school facilities.?

Policy implementation challenges?

Making a policy is separate from implementation.?

While India has many policies in place for school education, effective implementation can be challenging. Issues such as bureaucratic red tape, administrative inefficiencies, and a lack of accountability often hinder the successful implementation of education schemes.?

Representative image

The importance of and need for proper school infrastructure cannot be over-emphasised. The lack of it can lead to poor academic performance (due to lack of libraries, for instance), accessibility challenges and healthy and safety concerns (due to unhygienic toilets.)

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