AHMEDABAD: Gujarat has incurred the least expenditure on development of the education sector in recent years. The education outlay as a percentage of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) has been just 3.3%, the lowest among the top 20 states across India, noted a recent study by apex industry body Assocham.

Nationally 1.3% of GDP is being spend on education-related expenditure. Assam and Bihar (11%) rank on top in terms education outlay per cent of their respective GSDP, according to a study titled ‘States Emergence: A comparative analysis of growth and development,’ conducted Assocham.

Gujarat ranks 11th in terms of growth in number of teachers in the state, which grew from over 2.3 lakh to over 3 lakh at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8%, which was below the national growth rate of 5.4% between 2007-08 and 2013-14, noted the study..

In terms of growth in number of schools, Gujarat ranked 12th with a CAGR of about 2% as the number of schools grew from just over 39,000 schools to over 43,100 schools from 2007-08 to 2013-14.

On the positive side, Gujarat’s performance in terms of students per teacher improved slightly from 33 in 2007-08 to 30 in 2013-14. The state however ranks 17th in this regard, the study highlighted.

Gujarat registered the third highest growth rate in terms of student enrolment, which grew at a CAGR of over 3% between 2007-08 and 2013-14. Nationally, enrolment in schools grew at just about 1% in this period.