BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh, one of India's largest states, ranks 30th in the educational development index (EDI) calculated for 35 Indian states and union territories.

This is stated in the latest report of the District Information System for Education (DISE) on the state of elementary education - primary and middle level - for the academic year 2006-07.

Though the Bharatiya Janata Party government here has made progress in terms of enrolling students in school there have been few efforts to provide quality education - a key factor in student retention.

As per the report, the gross enrolment ratio of children at the primary level increased from 129.76 percent in 2005-06 to 143.58 percent in 2006-07.

But the state's commitment to providing quality education to children can be gauged from its 30th rank in terms of the EDI of 0.481 calculated on the basis of four variables - access, infrastructure, teachers and outcomes.

The state, with a population of 65 million, was at the 29th position in 2005-06 in terms of EDI.

Incidentally, the three states and union territories that scored the highest on the EDI were Kerala (0.772), Pondicherry (0.771) and Delhi (0.757).

As providing educational access to children is not just limited to providing schools in every habitation but also about making the school environment conducive and enabling for children, Madhya Pradesh could not do much on this front either, says the report.

"In the ratio of primary schools to upper primary (middle) schools, Madhya Pradesh has fallen down from 2.8 in 2005-06 to 2.7 in 2006-07. There are only 35,899 middle schools for 95,517 primary schools," says the report.

Madhya Pradesh has a literacy rate of 64 percent. The dropout rate at the primary school level is 15.6 per cent while that at the middle level is 14.7 per cent.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com