Bhubaneswar, Sept. 29: Prashant Gouda teaches in a government school, but has no qualms to say that he will prefer to enrol his child in a private institution as it offers better facilities compared to those run by the state.

This is the popular sentiment among most parents and has been corroborated in the data of Unified District Information System for Education (DISE).

The database on information about schools in India has been developed by the National University for Educational Planning and Administration.

According to the university's report, enrolment in government-run primary schools in the state has dipped to an all-time low in the past seven years. On the other hand, enrolment in private schools has more than doubled during the same period.

In the government-run schools, only 42.23 lakh students took admission in classes from one to five in 2014-15 - about 54,082 students less than that in 2013-14.

The figures were the highest in 2010-11 when it had touched 44.67 lakh before dipping to 44.33 lakh in 2011-12 and further to 43.36 lakh in 2012-13.

On the contrary, the figures in private schools have seen a quantum leap from 4.02 lakh in 2013-14 to 4.76 lakh, registering nearly 19 per cent growth in 2014-15. A closer look at the figures suggests that there has been a constant rise in private school enrolments over the past few years.

In fact, the enrolment in private schools has doubled in the past seven years. What is clearly visible is the growing preference towards these schools, mostly English medium, not just in cities but towns and villages.

"Despite being a government teacher myself, as a parent, I will wish that my child gets the basic facilities in education that includes good teachers and computer education, which I understand means everything in today's competitive world. Most government schools still exist in their primitive set up with no fans. Half of the year the students don't have textbooks. The toilets are unhygienic and teachers are unqualified and busy staging agitations. This, I believe, is a huge put off for most parents who prefer a private English medium school," said Gouda.

"This trend could apparently spell a doom for the government schools that are already struggling with poor infrastructure, lack of quality teachers and regular strikes," said an educationist.

Authorities in the school and mass education department said they were examining the reasons behind the dip in enrolment.

In order to attract more students, the department has rolled out campaigns such as Pravesh Utsav and Siksha Adhikaar Abhiyaan.

"New entrants are welcomed with flowers and sweets and the entire atmosphere is made festive for the students," said state project director of the Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority Mahendra Kumar Mallick.

To attract more students, the department of school and mass education had introduced the Ama Vidyalaya drive for beautification of schools across the state using several child-friendly and activity-based elements on the walls and other parts of the school building.

The objective was to make the school ambience attractive for children and to ensure that learning was a joyous experience for the kids.

All 52,000 elementary schools in the state were remodelled as part of the programme.

Closure of schools

Following the DISE report of 2013-14, the state government had hurriedly decided to close down as many as 165 primary schools that had less than five students. It had asked the students of these schools to attend the nearest institutions.

The state project director said that it had become difficult to handle schools with fewer students as the ancillary grants released to these types of schools under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan were left unutilised for a long period.

However, the decision to close down schools had drawn widespread criticism.

"I am afraid this data will lead to the closure of more schools, which of course is not the solution. The department must work out a proper solution to identify the grey areas and take necessary steps to make government schools more appealing. This is only possible when quality teachers are recruited," said Ghasiram Panda, a development professional.

Beyond classrooms

The DISE survey also revealed that 98 per cent of the schools that were surveyed had drinking water facilities, 95 per cent had toilets for boysand 76 per cent for girls. About 67 per cent schools have boundary walls, while 77 per cent has ramps.

Similarly, 98 per cent schools have provision for mid-day meals, while 29 per cent has electricity and a mere 13 per cent are equipped with computers.