Tamil Nadu 2003 - of Planning Commission

70 ✦ T AMIL NADU HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT
Primary Education
Trends in Enrolment
Table 5.1 shows the trends of sex-wise enrolment from 1975–6 to the present. In primary classes, the overall
increase in enrolment is 27.6 per cent with the current level of achievement having been achieved as early as
1980–1 itself. However, there has been a distinct narrowing of the gender gap. The drop in enrolment in the
nineties could also be attributed to the drop in birth rate.
TABLE 5.1—SEX-WISE ENROLMENT AT ELEMENTARY STAGE
(in lakhs)
Year Primary (I–V) Upper Primary (VI–VIII) Elementary (I–VIII)
Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
1975–76 30.01 23.39 53.40 8.69 5.04 13.73 38.69 28.44 67.13
1980–81 34.80 28.66 63.46 11.48 6.94 18.42 46.28 35.60 81.88
1985–68 38.90 33.03 71.93 14.69 9.98 24.67 53.59 43.01 96.60
1990–91 41.82 35.81 77.63 18.14 13.44 31.58 59.96 49.25 109.21
1995–96 43.89 38.06 81.95 21.02 16.80 37.82 64.91 54.86 119.77
1997–98 35.18 32.95 68.14 19.30 16.63 35.93 54.48 49.58 104.07
Source: National Institute of Education and Planning (NIEPA).
In the middle school classes, the growth in the same period has been more dramatic, showing an increase
of nearly 161 per cent. The gender ratio has also improved from 1.72 to 1.16. The disturbing factor is that the
annual growth rates in enrolment have slowed down considerably in the nineties. A part of this phenomenon
could be explained by the drop in birth rate, but the falling growth needs to be checked so that 100 per cent
enrolment in middle schools can be achieved.
Box 5.1—History of Elementary Education in Tamil Nadu
The earliest developments in the field of education in the State were brought on by the advent of the
Christian missionaries as early as the beginning of the eighteenth century. Though the English East
India Company had started a school at Fort St George in 1673 for educating the children of its own
employees, it was the missionaries who were responsible for spreading education among the local
population.
The Report of the Elementary Education Survey of the Madras Presidency, 1925, gives us some interesting
insights into the history and progress of elementary education in the State. The report points out that
there were three agencies managing elementary schools in the province: i) private bodies, mission and
non-mission including private individuals and teacher managers, ii) local boards and municipal councils,
and iii) government. Three distinct periods are also traced in the spread of elementary education in the
province: i) the early period up to 1910, ii) the middle period from 1911–20, and iii) the period from 1921
onwards.
The earliest period is characterized by major changes in policy, both regarding the medium of instruction,
agency to start and run elementary schools as well as the methodology of funding of aided institutions.