In recent years, the greatest loss Bihar has suffered is not in infrastructure or governance but in education. Amidst the glitter of constructing physical infrastructure, the most basic human necessity — education — has been neglected. Concrete buildings cannot be the benchmark of social progress. True progress lies in the pulsating lives that inhabit the gaps between those concrete structures, in their aspirations, and in the steps they take, climbing the fragile staircase of opportunity.
For more than two decades, Bihar has proudly repeated slogans of “development with justice” and claimed the country’s fastest growth rate of 9.07%. This narrative has given the illusion that Bihar is an unparalleled success story. Yet, despite a quarter century of “fastest growth,” the NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goal report places Bihar consistently at the bottom — in poverty, hunger and malnutrition, healthcare, education, and employment.
While numbers have been improved elsewhere to project progress, education statistics tell a story not of stagnation but of decline. In the 1961 Census, Bihar’s literacy rate was 23.4%, just five points below the national average of 28.3%. By 2011, Bihar’s literacy rose to 63.8%, but the national average climbed faster, to 74%. Bihar is now a full ten points behind.
Access to education is equally dismal. The Bihar caste survey of 2022–23 publicized figures that suited political interests but hid the damning picture of education. According to media reports, only 22.67% of people studied up to Class 5, just 14.71% up to Class 10, and a mere 7.05% managed to complete graduation. Shockingly, 32.1% of people never entered a school or college at all.
The situation worsens each year. While the population grows, enrollment falls. From 18.85 million students in Classes 1 to 8 in 2022–23, the number dropped to 17.92 million in 2023–24 — a fall of over 928,000 children in a single year (UDISE+ 2023–24). Of those enrolled, many drop out quickly. Bihar’s secondary dropout rate is 20.86% — the highest in India and rising steadily. In 2019–20 it was 16.1%, by 2020–21 it reached 17.6%, and now it is above 20%.
This means that in Bihar, only 22% of people ever make it to Class 5, a third of the population never enters school, and one in five children drops out before Class 10. This is not the profile of a modern state but of a society stuck in medieval backwardness.
Even for those who remain, learning outcomes are abysmal. The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Index (2021) placed Bihar at the bottom among large states. ASER reports show that 31.9% of Class 1 children cannot recognize numbers 1 to 9, 28.3% of Class 3 students cannot read a Class 2 text, and 40% of Class 8 students cannot solve basic division. This reflects systemic failure, where children spend years in school yet never acquire foundational skills.
Instead of qualitative reforms, Bihar’s education policy has been dominated by cosmetic schemes like free bicycles, alongside a series of negative and punitive administrative measures. Schools are being shut down instead of expanded. Over the past decade, thousands of schools have been closed or merged — more than 4,485 by some counts. Those that remain are starved of resources. In 2021, Parliament was informed that compliance with the Right to Education in Bihar was only 11.1%. Even today, hundreds of schools operate without buildings, and some literally run in the open.
Teacher shortages plague the system. Over 2,600 schools are single-teacher institutions, and more than 250,000 teaching posts remain vacant. Even at prestigious institutions like Patna University’s Science College, only 31 of 110 sanctioned faculty positions are filled. Teachers who are present are frequently diverted to non-academic duties such as election rolls, leaving classrooms empty.
Textbooks, a basic right, are routinely delayed. In September 2025, nearly 800,000 children still had not received their books for the academic year that began in April. Denying books is equivalent to denying learning opportunities — a recurring, systematic sabotage. Meanwhile, examinations are still held, ensuring poor performance that then gets used to discredit public schools.
The structural neglect is not accidental. By keeping government schools underfunded, understaffed, and dysfunctional, the state is pushing children out of public education. Affluent parents, desperate for quality education, migrate to private schools — a trend the government seems to encourage. Private enrollment has doubled in a few years, while government schools have shrunk. Between 2015–16 and 2021–22, government schools fell from 88.7% to 81.17% of total schools, while private schools rose from 4.7% to 8.7%. This parallel system strengthens elite privilege and leaves the poor excluded.
This is not just economic but deeply social. Bihar’s ruling elite, shaped by entrenched hierarchies, does not want marginalized communities to rise to equality. Public schools are where disadvantaged children would gain empowerment, but by weakening them, the system ensures that inequality is reproduced. Denial of enrollment, shortage of teachers, diversion of staff, lack of textbooks, and even striking children’s names off registers — these are deliberate strategies to exclude the poor.
Private schools cannot be the answer. Just as a grocery shop in a village can feed only those who can pay but cannot solve the problem of hunger, private institutions can serve a few privileged families but cannot fulfill society’s educational needs. That responsibility lies with the government, as both a constitutional and moral duty. On both counts, Bihar has failed.
India has endured centuries of social inequality. After long struggles, marginalized groups were beginning to gain awareness and courage. Now, by restricting access to education, a new ground is being prepared for reproducing inequality. The responsibility of the progressive, humane intelligentsia is to recognize this design and demand a reconstruction of inclusive and egalitarian educational conditions.
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Dr. Anil Kumar Roy is an educationist and State Convenor of the RTE Forum, Bihar. A version of this article first appeared in Hindi in Lokjivan
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