The National Statistical Organisation’s (NSO) latest report on education is out, and it sheds light on a lot of aspects crucial to primary and upper primary education in India. According to the NSO report, almost 60% of the students in India walk to school. The numbers are significantly higher in rural areas for primary and upper primary students. The percentage of girls going to school on foot is 62% while it is 57.9% in the case of boys.
Other than travelling on foot, students use public transport to go to school and an average of 12.4% of the students use it in the country. 11.3% of students use public transport in rural areas whereas 15.3% use it in urban areas. Information was also collected on how regularly students availed the concessional fare in public transport for attending educational institutions. As many as 48.3% students who received concession used public transport, this number being higher in rural areas (51.3%) than in urban areas (42.7%).
As per the survey, the distance of the institute from home seemed to be in sync with the mode of travel. 77% of the households have a pre-primary school within 2km, 83.4% for primary and 75.3% for upper-primary schools, the levels where students travel on foot. The survey also reveals that, while 61.4% of male students from rural areas travel on foot, it is 49.4% for urban areas. In the case of girls, it is 66.5% for rural areas and 50.8% for urban areas.
