The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), conducted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, through the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, has showed that Ludhiana has ranked poor 16th in the state with only 24.2 per cent of its kids, aged 2 to 4 years, attending the preparatory school.
This was also much lower than the state’s average of 31.1 per cent attendance during the 2019-21 academic sessions.
Surprisingly, the rural areas in the district took the lead by sending 27 per cent of its children, aged 2 to 4 years, to the preschool, while only 22.1 per cent of toddlers were attending the preparatory school in the district.
Interestingly, 33.3 per cent girls in rural areas and 22.9 per cent female in the urban areas of the district were going to preschool as compared to 19 per cent boys in villages and 21.6 per cent male in the cities. Also of the total 24.2 per cent kids attending preparatory school in the district, 28.3 per cent were girls and 20.7 per cent were boys.
As was the case in Ludhiana, Punjab’s ruralites were also leading in sending their toddlers to preparatory school as 34.5 per cent kids, including 34.5 per cent girls and 32.1 per cent boys, were attending preschool in the state’s rural areas compared to 27.4 per cent attendance of such children, including 30.1 per cent girls and 25.3 per cent boys, in the urban areas.
While Bathinda topped the state with the highest ratio of 49.7 per cent preschool attendance, Jalandhar remained the laggard with the lowest of 16.7 per cent toddlers attending the preparatory school.