Bihar education system is ruined, the worst in the country under JD(U)-BJP government: Digvijay Singh
Ahead of the Bihar Assembly election due in October-November, Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader Digvijay on Sunday (June 29, 2025) slammed the Janata Dal (United)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the State for 'ruining' the education system in the State.
Mr. Singh, while addressing the media at the party office in Patna, said that the government schools in the State are in a poor condition and the dropout rate is highest in the country. The schools don't have electricity, teachers, computers and libraries. He shared data from the school education report, UDISE+ 2023–24, of the Modi government at the Centre.
Expressing regret, Mr. Singh said that this is the worst performance in the whole country. He said that out of 78,120 government schools, 16,529 still do not have electricity and only 5,057 have computers, a mere 6.5%.
'There are 2,637 schools in Bihar where there is only one teacher, and 2.91 lakh students are enrolled in these schools. At the same time, there are 117 schools in the State where not even a single student is enrolled, yet 544 teachers are posted there. Bihar also has the highest school dropout rates: Primary (Classes 1–5): 8.9%, Upper Primary (Classes 6–8): 25.9%, Secondary (Classes 9–10): 25.63%,' Mr. Singh said.
In budget 2025-26, the Bihar government claimed to have allocated ₹60,954 crore for education but the truth is that this money is lost to corruption, he alleged.
'1.13 crore not enrolled for higher education'
'The BJP-JD(U) government has ruined Bihar's future in higher education as well. The recent report of AISHE 2021–22 (All India Survey on Higher Education) has once again exposed the plight of higher education in Bihar,' Mr. Singh said.
Sharing data from the report, he pointed out that GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) was 17.1%, i.e., the estimated population of the State in the age group of 18–23 years is 1.36 crore, but out of these, only 23.33 lakh are enrolled in undergraduate programmes.
He said that it means 1.13 crore youth are deprived of higher education. 'Bihar has the lowest number of higher educational institutions per lakh population in the country, with a total of 37 universities, 1,092 colleges, 315 standalone institutions, totalling to 1,387 higher education institutions; but this number is very low for the population,' Mr. Singh said.
The Congress leader also said that there are only seven colleges per one lakh population, against the national average is 30 colleges per lakh, which is the lowest in India.
'Future of youth being auctioned'
Speaking on exam paper leaks in Bihar, Mr. Singh said that the future of the youth is being bid upon and the paper mafia is in cahoots with the government.
'In Bihar, under the patronage of the BJP-JD(U) government, a dirty business of scams is going on in government recruitments and competitive examinations. In the last seven years, more than 10 cases of exam paper leak have come to the fore in the State,' he said.
The network of 'paper mafia' which is tarnishing the glorious legacy of education in Bihar is becoming increasingly active and the business of these mafias is worth thousands of crores, he said.
Mr. Singh listed out rates fixed by the alleged paper mafia for every competitive exams: for NEET PG – ₹70-80 lakh, NEET UG – ₹30-40 lakh, banking exam (bank PO) – ₹15-20 lakh, police SI – ₹25 lakh and police constable – ₹10-15 lakh.
Earlier in the day, he called on Congress ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad along with Congress leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh at Mr. Prasad's 10, Circular Road residence to enquire about his health.
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