Odisha government mulls upgrading high schools to check dropout rate

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government aims to upgrade 100 high schools in the next academic session to check the high dropout rate in the state, School Education Minister Samir Dash said on Wednesday. As many as 49,098 secondary school students have dropped out of schools before entering higher secondary-level in 2020-21. They include 15,792 tribals and 11,045 Dalits.

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Dash said the government plans to upgrade the large secondary schools in the blocks, where there are no Plus 2 colleges, if the former fulfills the requirements. "An exercise has been started to upgrade 100 schools to Plus 2 in the next academic session," he told reporters. The minister hoped that the move would help to check the dropout rate, and also benefit the students. Dash underlined that there were blocks with no colleges and some large blocks where there were one to two higher educational institutions. Therefore, there is a need to focus on the places, especially the mining areas, where students are dropping out, he added.