Gujarat Lags behind in Education sector. Why?

A recently held investigation has revealed that Gujarat is lagging behind in Education sector. The Planning commission working paper said that Gujarat has underperformed in health and Education sectors.

The analysis took place for sectors like Health, Education and Infrastructure.

According to the Planning Commission's paper "Refining State Level Comparisons in India", Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have each underperformed in two the three sectors analyzed.

The working paper 2012 has analyzed the performance of states said that the only sector where Gujarat has not done well is Infrastructure.

The good performers include states like Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Bihar. And these states have been the best performers across all sectors, it said.

Here are some of the highlights of Education in Gujarat State.

The primary and secondary/higher secondary education infrastructure available in Gujarat has been able to cope with the demand generated so far. While primary education has traditionally been, and continues to be, a government strong-hold, the secondary/higher secondary education is fast becoming a private sector forte.

School education: Gujarat had an estimated 8.2 million children enrolled in the primary classes with the Gross Enrolment Ration (GER) touching almost 100%. There were about 2.77 million children enrolled in institutions imparting secondary and higher secondary education.

Both the government and the private sector are increasingly playing a larger role in ensuring that children are not left out of the education system for want of infrastructure

Higher and technical education: Gujarat has traditionally been recognized for its entrepreneurial leanings and not for its ability to develop professionally trained human resources. This however is likely to change very rapidly as the Government of Gujarat has embarked on a mission to make Gujarat an Education Hub for the country. The efforts are directed not only towards attracting students from other states within the country but also from other countries. Gujarat currently has about 20 universities of which 10 are private universities (6 already existing and 4 new have been approved and will commence operations soon). Gujarat has over 900 institutions of higher learning and research which educate approximately 551,398 students. Gujarat has instituted approximately 34,323 engineering seats and approximately 47,753 diploma engineering seats. At the post-graduation (Masters) level approximately 10492 seats are available across various disciplines.