Education department minister Brishen Patel on Monday urged people from all sections of society to come forward and help increase the education level of Mahadalits and other marginalised communities.

He was speaking at a function organised by non-government organisation Deshkal Society on the occasion of releasing its report, “Social diversity and learning achievements: the status of primary education in rural Bihar”.

Patel said: “In the past few years, the government has taken various initiatives to improve education in the state. This is visible in the high enrolment percentage of schoolchildren and decrease in dropout rate among students.”

The number of primary schools in the state has gone up from 52,000 in 2005 to 73,000 in 2014. The number of teachers in government schools has increased from 2 lakh in 2005 from 4 lakh in 2014. The dropout rate among school students has gone down from 11 per cent in 2005 to 3 per cent in 2014.

Shaibal Gupta, member secretary, Asian Development Research Institute, who was also present on the occasion said education of a child depends mostly on the attitude of parents and atmosphere in the house. “Rabindranath Tagore had never received a formal education, but his parents’ approach towards education helped him become a Nobel laureate.”

Gupta also stressed the need on public investment in education, both at university and school level. “In Japan, public investment in education is very high and this is the reason why so many Japanese are receiving Nobel prizes now.”

The Deshkal report is an outcome of the study taken in two districts, namely Gaya and Katihar, with the intention of tracking the present primary education system in rural Bihar.

Sanjay Kumar, secretary, Deshkal Society, said: “Gaya and Katihar were selected for data collection for the report since these two districts have high percentages of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Muslims. The SC constitutes 30 per cent of total population in Gaya, while Katihar has 42.52 per cent of Muslims. The report highlighted that children from upper castes attend private tuitions more than that of children of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Muslims. In Gaya, only 29.27 per cent and 9.06 per cent of SC and ST children, respectively receive private tuitions against 62.03 per cent children from upper caste. The report also highlighted the education level of parents influences the academic excellence of children.”