MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. Shashi Tharoor) (a) & (b): According to the findings of 7th All India School Education Survey (AISES) and Provisional (Flash) Statistics of the 8th AISES conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), improvements have taken place in the Enrolment and Pupil -Teacher Ratio, as is evident from the findings tabulated below. 7th AISES 8th AISES School Stages Total Enrolment Pupil Total Enrolment Pupil Teacher Teacher Ratio Ratio (PTR) (PTR) Primary Stage 12,29,15,301 42 12,79,61,668 32 Upper Primary 4,68,45,845 34 5,61,48,622 31 Stage Secondary 2,18,88,898 30 2,86,38,101 28 Stage Higher 1,14,37,883 1,62,46,063 Secondary Stage (c) to (e): The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which become operative from 1st April, 2010, prescribes a Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) of 40:1 and 35:1 at primary and upper primary level, respectively in every school. As per the District Information System for Education (DISE), 2011-12, the PTR at primary and upper primary level are 31 and 29, respectively. (f) & (g): Two rounds of National Learners’ Achievement Surveys conducted by the NCERT have revealed improvements in the learning achievement of children in classes III, V & VIII, even though overall achievements remain low. The findings of the third round conducted recently for class V also indicate that there is enhancement in the learning levels in most States. (h) The RTE Act, 2009 provides a time frame of three years for the establishment of neighbourhood schools, for the provision of the school infrastructure and for meeting the PTR norms.
