Status of basic amenities and students’ academic achievement in elementary schools in urban slums of Varanasi city

India is a democratic, socialistic republic country and committed to provide quality elementary education to all children including deprived children in age group of 6 to 14 in the society. The slum children come from most deprived and down trodden sections of the population in urban areas. As such the country has a special responsibility for their education and welfare. In order to provide quality elementary education to slum children, adequate basic amenities should be available in elementary schools in urban slum areas. Also there should be equality in academic achievement of students. The research paper examines the status of basic amenities available in slum elementary schools and accesses the academic achievement of students in slum areas of Varanasi city. Descriptive survey method was used in the study. Basic amenities in elementary schools of Varanasi slum areas were found inadequate. Academic achievement of students of government elementary schools in slum areas was found significantly less than academic achievement of students of private elementary schools. Furthermore, academic achievement of students in slum areas was found significantly less than academic achievement of elementary schools’ students at national level.