Jan. 22: In a major development, a government survey on the status of elementary education in the country has revealed that the enrolment rate of Muslim children in elementary education has witnessed a considerable improvement in 2008-09 against the previous years.

According to the report on "Elementary Education in India: Progress towards Universalisation of Elementary Education", released by HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Friday, a total of 14.83 million Muslim children were enrolled in primary schools in 2008-09. They constitute 11.03 per cent of the total 134.38 million students. Their percentage was 10.49 per cent in 2007-08 and 9.39 per cent in 2006-07, said the report.

The report has been prepared by National University of Educational Planning and Administration. The survey has covered 1.29 million recognised elementary schools in the country. Interestingly, the enrolment of Muslim girls is 48.93 per cent, which is quite similar to the overall enrolment of girls in primary schools. The rate of Muslim enrolment in upper primary level has also increased to 9.13 per cent in 2008-09 against 8.54 per cent in the previous year and 7.52 per cent in 2006-07.

The report stated that there were about 53.35 million children enrolled into upper primary classes in 2008-09, with the number of Muslim children at about 4.87 million. The survey also revealed that the basic facilities like drinking water, toilets and infrastructure in schools have shown marked improvement. The percentage of elementary schools having access to drinking water facility increased from 86.75 in 2007-08 to 88 last year. All schools in Delhi, Chandigarh, Daman Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Tamil Nadu have been provided with drinking water facility. The common toilets facility in schools has improved also.