According to a recent Niti Aayog report titled Learnings from Large-scale Transformation in School Education, India continues to maintain five times the number of schools compared to China, despite having a similar student enrollment. In contrast, a news report highlights that numerous international and private schools in China are closing or merging due to stricter regulations, a slowing economy, and a decline in foreign student numbers.
In 2020, China had approximately 1,80,000 private education institutes, constituting over a third of all education institutes in the country, with an enrollment of 55.6 million students. However, international schools in China, restricted to students with foreign passports, experienced a decrease in student numbers, attributed to expatriates leaving amid the pandemic and escalating geopolitical tensions.
The expansion of schools in China before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the proliferation of privately run bilingual schools offering a Western exam curriculum. However, Beijing’s imposition of new rules in 2021 and a crackdown on private tutoring adversely affected this sector.
The Niti Aayog report on Indian schools reveals that more than 50 per cent of primary schools in many states have enrollments of less than 60 students. These sub-scale schools incur high costs due to multi-grade teaching, inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of administrative staff. The report suggests school mergers as a viable solution, citing positive results from such initiatives in SATH-E states, emphasising the benefits of improved learning outcomes.
To address low enrollments, the report recommends the creation of large schools, constituting 10-20 per cent of the state’s educational landscape. These integrated K-12 schools should offer transport facilities for equitable access. This aligns with the National Education Policy 2020’s call for establishing large school complexes. The report details the consolidation efforts in the Project SATH-E states, emphasising the positive impact of mergers when executed rigorously. Additionally, the report outlines efforts to develop leader schools.
