UEE and Student-Teacher Ratio

Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) is a constitutional mandate. Article 45 of the Constitution stipulates, as a Directive Principle of State Policy that the State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of the Constitution for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. Para 5.12 of the National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 says "The New Education Policy will give the highest priority to solving the problem of children dropping out of school and will adopt an array of meticulously formulated strategies based on micro-planning, and applied at the grass roots level all over the country, to ensure children's retention at school. This effort will be fully coordinated with the network of non-formal education. It shall be ensured that all children who attain the age of about 11 years by 1990 will have had five years of schooling, or its equivalent through the non-formal stream. Likewise, by 1995 all children will be provided free and compulsory education upto 14 years of age".

With the drive of UEE, report says that more number of primary schools were established from 1950-51 to 1988-89. In another research report, it is noted that from 1990 to 1997, student enrollment in primary schools is higher than upper primary schools in India.