Madhya Pradesh is now going parallel with the private sector in respect of having an ideal infrastructure in government schools and on some parameters it is excelling, according to a recently released report by the Government of Indian’s Unified District Information System for Education Plus, which assessed the infrastructure in the country's government schools. The report offers a comparative analysis for the status of infrastructure from 2014 to the current scenario in government, government-aided, private, and other schools. The infrastructure study covered aspects like drinking water facilities, toilets for girls, separate toilets for boys, handwashing facilities, electricity connections, library facilities, playgrounds, medical check-ups, computer availability, internet facilities, ramps and handrails for students with special needs, toilet facilities, kitchen gardens, rainwater harvesting systems, and solar energy systems. Madhya Pradesh's schools showed better performance in several of these areas.
Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav has directed the concerned authorities to make plans and strategies at multiple levels to make Madhya Pradesh a model state in school education.
It is noteworthy that India has the world’s largest education network, with 1.47 million schools, over 9.8 million teachers, and 248 million students enrolled from primary to secondary levels, representing various socio-economic backgrounds. The Government of India has launched the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) to manage this vast database of schools, where data related to schools is uploaded online, and its accuracy is verified at block, district, and state levels. This represents the "One Nation, One Database" concept.
According to the report, Madhya Pradesh has 1, 23,412 schools including government, private, and government-aided, having 15.36 million students enrolled and 639,525 teachers. Among these, 92,439 are government schools, 581 are government-aided, 28,910 are private, and 1,482 are categorized as other schools. Of these, 39.4% are preparatory or foundational schools, 35.7% are middle schools, and 14.9% are higher secondary schools. The availability of teachers is has also improved according to which 21.02% are in foundational schools, 37.9% in middle schools and 40.9% in secondary schools.
According to the report, 98.3% of schools in India have drinking water facilities, 97.2% have toilets for girls, 95.7% have toilets for boys, and 94.7% provide handwashing facilities. Additionally, 91.8% of schools have electricity, 89% have libraries, 82.4% have playgrounds, 75.2% offer medical check-up facilities, 57.2% have computers, and 53.9% provide internet facilities. The report also mentions that 52.3% of schools have ramps for disabled students, 36.2% have kitchen gardens, and 34.4% offer toilets for students with disabilities. Furthermore, 28.4% of schools have rainwater harvesting systems, and 10.5% have solar energy systems installed.
In order to provide quality education, the new education policy has been implemented to offer students engaging and enjoyable learning experiences. Under the CM Rise scheme, 9,200 schools are being equipped with basic facilities in two phases. In the second phase, 276 schools will be equipped in the year 2024-25, covering classes from KG to 12th grade.
Out of the 274 CM Rise schools approved in the first phase, construction of 22 has been completed. The construction cost of each school building is a minimum of Rs 31 crore, and the design has been done by renowned architects. These schools are equipped with modern labs, smart classrooms, sports facilities, and free transportation. As a result of strengthened infrastructure, the academic performance of these schools is showing consistent improvement.