To realize Sikkim’s falling fertility rate, check enrolment figures at ICDS centres and Govt schools

Much has been made of the falling enrolment figures at the Integrated Child Development Scheme centres [for toddler] and in Government schools in rural areas. Many have blamed the mushrooming of private schools even in rural areas for this drop in enrolment numbers, and while they might not be completely wrong, a substantial contributing factor is also the fact that Sikkim now has fewer children per family than perhaps at any time in its history. Fertility rate - the number of children an average woman is likely to have during her childbearing years, conventionally taken to be 15-49 – in Sikkim, as per the Census of 2011, is lower than even population replacement levels.