Annual dropout rate in elementary school was 4% in 2017-18: MHRD

NEW DELHI: The annual average dropout rate of children at elementary level – Classes 1 to 8 – was four percent in 2017-18, the Ministry of Human Resource Development told Parliament on December 2. Plus, according to MHRD, this figure represents a reduction of over two percentage points from the previous year’s average dropout rate.

Citing the Unified District Information on School Education’s (UDISE) 2017-18 report, still a provisional document, the MHRD also told the Lok Sabha that Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have “an annual average dropout rate higher than 4%”. The reply does not furnish dropout rates for these states individually. The UDISE is the main public database on schooling.

Changing rates

According to the same document, the ministry’s reply further said, the dropout rate dropped by over two percentage points from the previous year.

The average dropout rates for three years is given below:

The academic years of 2016-17 appears to have seen a spike in the rate with the average rate rising by two percentage points over the previous year’s 4.1 percent.

In response to a question on the steps the government has taken to reduce dropout rates, the MHRD simply furnished a summary of its scheme, the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan for which the Centre shares funding with states.

The “dropout rate” is the percentage of students in a particular set – or cohort – who are no longer enrolled.

Secondary education

The same reply also shows that the percentage of students completing secondary education (Classes 9 and 10), or passing the Class 10 board exam which marks the end of it, ranges from 100 percent in Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry, to just 48.11 percent in Daman and Diu. Dadra and Nagar Haveli are only slightly better with a pass percentage of 48.5.

The percentage of students passing the Class 10 exams is under 60 percent in Assam, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.

Karnataka and Lakshadweep did not report their data.

In a separate reply, MHRD told Lok Sabha that the net enrolment ratio in secondary education has improved rom 48 percent in 2014-15 to over 53 percent in 2017-18. "The UDISE has also shown that between 2014-15 and 2016-17, the adjusted net enrolment ratio has improved in 24 states and Union Territories," the statement says. The "net enrolment ratio" is the percentage of children in the appropriate age-group who are enrolled in school. "In seven states and UTs, the adjusted net enrolment ratio is more than 80%."

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