UDISE+ report reliable, most trusted database in school education: Ministry

NEW DELHI: The ministry of education has clarified that the Unified District Information System for Education Plus data is in fact reliable and the most trusted database for school education. The clarification is in response to the Odisha minister of school and mass education denying the high drop-out rate of 27.3% and stating that the UDISE+ report is 'not reliable and trustworthy.'

The date for the report was complied from head masters and teachers from schools in all states. The data then goes through a three-stage verification process- clock level, district level and state level. After this, the data is certified by the state project director at the state level. "Therefore, data is entered in UDISE+ portal by the respective State itself," says the Press Information Bureau (PIB) in a statement.

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Odisha had reported a total of 21.42 lakh students in upper primary and 13.25 lakh students in secondary school. In 2021, the data showed a decline in upper primary students with 20.72 lakh and 12.46 lakh students in secondary school.

The statement further added, "Therefore, UDISE+ data clearly reflects that enrolment and students transiting from Class 8 to 9, Class 9 to 10, Class 10 to 11 and Class 11 to 12 have declined indicating a large number of students are dropping out at the transition of upper primary to secondary level and subsequently to higher secondary level.

The UDISE+ 2021-22 data also shows that drop out rate at upper primary level in Odisha is 7.3% and at the secondary level it is 27.3% as against the national average of 3% and 12.6% respectively.