Why do we calculate GER/NER? What are the appropriate targets for this figure?

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is a measure of the total enrolment at a particular level in education, irrespective of age, expressed as percentage of population of the official age group corresponding to that level.

\[\begin{aligned} \text{GER at Primary level} = \frac{\text{Enrolment in class 1 to 5}}{\text{Projected population in the age group of 6-10 years}} \times 100 \end{aligned}\]

As this indicator takes all children enrolled in the class level, it is not a true level of participation. It shows the general level of participation in and the capacity of the level of education. Calculated with the NER, it shows the percentage of over- and under-age students. The Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) gives the total percentage of pupils in a particular level of school education in a corresponding official age group. For example:

\[\begin{aligned} \text{NER at Primary level} = \frac{\text{Children of age 6-10 years enrolled in class 1 to 5}}{\text{Projected population in the age group of 6-10 years}} \times 100 \end{aligned}\]

The NER data can be seen for the overall population, disaggregated by gender, social groups and geographical area. We calculate the NER to explore how many students in each age group are enrolled in school. This is a first step to ensuring that all students are in school.

Appropriate Targets for GER and NER

Since the NER measures the participation of the target population, an appropriate target for NER is 100%.

However, GER includes students who may be over- or under-age for the particular school level. Thus, its value can be greater than 100%. Therefore, to set a target for GER, it is important to consider the following populations –

  1. Students who are out of school (never enrolled or dropped out)
  2. Students who are enrolled in vocational education.
  3. Students who are enrolled in open schooling.

Considering this, as a rule of thumb, an appropriate target for GER at the elementary level should be around 105 to 110%. Plus, since the average GER and NER at secondary and higher secondary level in India is well below 80% and 50% respectively, a good first step would be to meaningfully raise these figures.

Some relevant statements from the National Education Policy 2020 in this regard:

  • It will be a top priority … to achieve 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio in preschool to secondary level by 2030. (p10)
  • The number of students in vocational education will be considered while arriving at the GER targets. (p44)