“This trend has not changed since 2007,” said Nitai Mehta, Founder Trustee of the Praja Foundation, a citizen’s initiative to increase governance and accountability. “The BMC spends over Rs 40,000 annually on each student while most of them do not even pass class X,” said Mehta.

The total per capita budget for each child has almost doubled from Rs 22,219 in 2007 to Rs 40,461 in 2009-10. According to Dr Ramesh Panse, former head of Economics at Department of SNDT University, “One must understand that about 90 per cent of the per capita budget on children is the component of the teacher’s salary. And yet we do not get quality education.” While the percentage of children reaching class X was 11 per cent in 2007, it increased to 13 per cent in 2008-09 and dipped to 12 per cent in 2009-10, according to the report.

The Praja report also points out that the overall dropout rates for wards are on the rise as 15 out of 24 wards saw an increase in the number of dropouts from 2008-09. The highest dropout rate is in Dahisar West and Bhandup while the lowest is in Bhendi Bazaar Crawford market area (C Ward). The quality of education also suffers as the BMC schools have poor student-teacher ratio, according to Mehta. While the highest student-teacher ratio is in Malad West and Chembur with 1 teacher for every 47 students, the lowest was found in Ghatkopar East (1 teacher for 29 students) and Mulund West (1 teacher for 30 students). 

According to the data collected by Praja in the past three years, “it was shocking to find that of the elected representatives in education committee, more than half had never asked a single question regarding education in any of the meetings.” There are 26 members in the education committee but the data pertains to only 22 councillors. In the 19 meetings held since April 2009, only 22 questions had been asked by councillors.

The attendance ratio of the councillors have also dropped since 2008-09, with most members attending only eight or nine meetings this year compared to 11 meetings in 2008-09. Questions regarding school infrastructure and education were posed most frequently while those on lack of students, sports and education trips and fees and donation were asked less frequently, said Mehta.

“Attendance which is a big problem amongst students need to be addressed by all the agencies,” said Farida Lambay, Founder Pratham and professor of Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work. According to Panse, “Foremost we need to make education attractive and fun for students. Also, we should do more of public-private partnerships in schools.”