The news related to the decline in the number of primary schools and students over a period of two years is disappointing. According to the 2022 Annual Primary School Census (APSC) conducted by the Directorate of Primary Education, there were 133,002 public and private kindergarten primary schools in 2020.
However, that number is set to drop to 118,891 in 2021, and even further to 114,539 in 2022. In contrast, student numbers were 21.5 million in 2020, declining to 20.09 million in 2021, before experiencing a slight increase to 20.5 million in 2022.
Many private primary schools, especially kindergartens, were forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the reason for the prolonged closure of these educational institutions in the last two years is not clear. Have these teachers shifted to alternative occupations during this period?