On 12 March 2018, the following question was asked in Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2702

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that rate of admission in schools has increased in the wake of implementation of the Right to Education Act, 2009 in the country and if so, the details thereof;

In response, the Ministry of Human Resource Development said:

Yes, Madam. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, mandates that every child of the age of six to fourteen years shall have the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till the completion of his or her elementary education. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Programme has been designated as the vehicle for implementing the provisions of RTE Act, 2009. Since inception of SSA in 2001, there has been significant progress in achieving near universal enrolment. As per UDISE 2015-16, enrolment of children in elementary schools has increased from 18.78 crore in 2009-10 to 19.67 crore in 2015-16.

The government is essentially claiming that the Right to Education (RTE) Act has resulted in increasing the enrolment of children in elementary schools. We will attempt here to see if this claim is indeed valid.

The RTE Act, as we all know, was brought into effect in the year 2009. The Act proclaims to guarantee education for every child aged between six and 14 years in the country. It reserves 25 per cent of seats in all schools for Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribes (ST), economically backward class (EBC), and DG groups, except in private schools owned by non-Hindus.

There are many analyses of this Act made from multiple perspectives already. Here, we try to look at some statistics that are central to the goals of RTE Act.

1. Total student enrolment numbers

The primary school segment is the most important one with respect to enrolment. The benefit of the 25 per cent reservation should be most visible here.

2. Percentage of SC and ST student enrolments

This number is an indication of the percentage share of seats in schools that the target segments are actually getting.

The source for the numbers below is the District Information System for Education (DISE). The numbers should be valid for us because the Ministry of Human Resource Department itself uses this source as a credible one.

First, let us take a look at student enrolment numbers from the pre-RTE era till 2015-16. The table below shows the enrolment numbers and relative growth rate from 2003-04 to 2015-16. It covers a six-year window before and after the introduction of RTE.