The gap between the GER and the NER in the primary level has always been very high. [break]According to the 2010 statistics published by the MoE, the GER-NER gap currently stands at 47.7 percent. In the last five years, the NER has remarkably increased -- from 86.8 percent in 2006 to 93.7 percent in 2010. However, during this very period, the growth in GER seems not-so-rosy, hovering around 140 percent every year.
"Simply saying, we are supposed to educate only 94 children. However, we are spending resources for 141 children," Dr Bishnu Karki explains. "It is pathetic that we are wasting our resources when 6 in every 100 school-aged children are still out of schools." The MoE has been spending Rs 6,000 on an average for each student studying in primary level. This expenditure consists mainly of teacher salaries and text books.
However, the MoE has not done anything remarkable to narrow down the GER-NER gap. Five years ago, the GER in primary level was 145.4 percent. In spite of a decrease to just 138.5 percent in 2008, the GER has again shot up to 141.4 percent in 2010.
The GER in primary level implies the total number of students, irrespective of their ages, enrolled in grade 1-5 while the NER is the total number of students from the age group 5-9 enrolled in this level. The narrower the GER-NER gap, the better the utilization of resources in the education sector.
Unbelievable arguments
Despite a consistent increment in the NER, albeit not with a growth rate of 3.5 percent required to meet one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 100 percent NER by 2015, why has the GER-NER gap remained so high?
MoE officials argue that it is mainly owing to the high GER caused by an inflow of under-age (below 5 years) and over-age (above 9 years) children in primary level, principally meant for children of 5-9 years age?
However, it is difficult to buy the argument of under-age children being enrolled in primary level since the MoE has set up more than 26,000 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers across the country? "If the MoE argues that the high GER is due to under-age children, then it has to say the ECDs are useless," said an educationist requesting anonymity.
Another argument of over-age children being enrolled in primary level seems a little more valid, given the high class repetition rate mainly in grade one. As per the MoE statistics published in 2010, still 26 percent children repeat grade one, followed by 10 per cent in grade two. The high repetition rate means that over-age children, who are supposed to go beyond primary level at the age of nine, have led to the ballooning of the GER.
MoE officials, unwilling to be named, say the high GER has partially been caused by double enrollment, meaning that most of the children enrolled in ECD centers go to primary schools as well. In its recent progress report on the MDGs, the National Planning Commission (NPC) has recommended that the government form a mechanism to check the date manipulated by double enrollment. However, nothing has been done to this effect so far.
Related story
What is missing in budget for agriculture?
