Fall of 80,000 students in aided schools

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As per the preliminary estimate of the DPI, there is a fall of nearly 80,000 students in government and aided schools in the state.The estimate was reached on the basis of the conventional headcount held on Tuesday to determine the total number of students in schools across the state.The number of students are likely to increase further as the data did not contain the details of two districts, namely Kottayam and Alappuzha, where the schools remained closed owing to heavy rains on Tuesday. Hence headcount could not be completed in these districts.The fall in students would mean a fall in over 5,000 teaching vacancies throwing a large number of teachers out of employment. However, one of the positive aspects is that the fall in the number of students was lesser than last year. Last year, the fall in the number of students came to 1.25 lakh. The total number of students studying in schools last year was 44.57 lakh.The data collected through the headcount, held on the sixth working day of the new school year, are crosschecked through a single-day verification by the officials of the General Education Department at a later date.Under Kerala Education Rules, the exact student strength is submitted to the Education Department on the sixth working day. Teachers and headmasters take the actual headcount and match it with the school records. Statistics collected through the singleday verification is the basis for sanctioning various posts in schools.