Panaji: Of the 20,919 students admitted to Class I last year in Goa, 88% came with experience of having attended preschool. Though there is some ground still to be covered, Goa’s coverage is higher than the national average of 80%. The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, mandates that pre-primary education be brought within the fold of formal schooling, regulating what and how children are taught from age three.In Goa, at 93%, students joining Class I in private schools were most likely to come with preschooling experience, followed by 89% in govt-aided schools. Those children getting admitted to govt-run schools in Class I were least likely to come with preschool experience, though the percentage was still high at 77%, as per Union education ministry’s unified district information system for education (UDISE+) report for 2025-26 released recently.According to the report, Goa presently has 28,825 students enrolled in pre-primary schools, of which the highest of around 16,500 are in aided schools, 9,000 more are in private schools, and the least, at 4,900, are in govt schools.However, the UDISE+ report shows that in Goa, which has one of the highest percentages of trained teachers, 95-97%, from primary to higher secondary levels across the country, there is still a major gap left to be filled at the pre-primary level. In Goa, only 61.2% pre-primary teachers are professionally qualified.“Barring perhaps some remote areas in Sattari and Canacona, every child in Goa is engaged in some formal learning activity from the age of 2.5. If a ground survey in Goa is carried out by govt, the percentage of those studying in pre-primary schools will be even higher. That said, many pre-primary schools need to put their systems, including salary structures, in order,” said KT Kavlekar, former president, Goa Rajya Prathamik Shikshak Sangh.Vijay Shetti of the All Goa Recognised Unaided Schools Association said that some standalone pre-primary schools are yet to be made part of the UDISE+ data.“Standalone pre-primary schools are yet to be included in the data as they have not been allotted UDISE numbers at present. Only those pre-primary schools attached to other schools are being counted. However, all pre-primary schools, including standalone ones, have started following NEP guidelines and activities, projects, and experiential learning is taking place already as per the new national curriculum framework. NEP training for teachers by schools as well as govt is also ongoing, but teachers need some time to adjust their mindset to the new format,” said Shetti.GFXPreprimary sector remained unregulated in Goa for a long timeAround 2012 the state stepped in and called for registration of the preprimary schools with the directorate of educationIn Goa, UDISE+ data shows that 1,130 of 1,473 schools or 76% have preprimary sections attached to the schoolsAs per the NEP requirement, preschooling has to be part of mainstream education systemIn Goa, only 61.2% preprimary teachers are professionally qualified, though this figure is much better than the national average of 45%.There are 929 teachers working in preprimary schools as per the data
