Bihar official to head panel on reducing school dropout rates

NEW DELHI: Sanjay Kumar, Additional chief secretary (ACS) of the Bihar education department has been appointed as the chairman of a central government educational reform committee. The committee will make recommendations on how to strengthen the education system in India, and will also suggest methods to reduce the dropout rate in Indian schools, Classes 1 to 12. The panel will also address the low transition rates in Indian schools, reported the Times of India .

The term ‘transition rate’ refers to the percentage of students getting passed from one class to the next class. The government of India is coming up with a policy to better the transition rate in schools. This will in turn lower the dropout rate in schools. A committee has been recently constituted with the objective of crafting such a policy. The committee report is expected by the end of December.

“Education secretaries of different states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and union territories Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir have been made members of the committee,“ reported TOI .

Also read | Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand have worst retention rate in schools: Education Ministry

Many academics and experts across the country will also provide their opinions and valuable inputs to the committee. According to Kumar, a round of meetings has already taken place along with the committee members and academics.

“The final suggestions will be made and the report will be submitted by the end of December. The aim of these efforts is to maintain a 100 percent gross enrolment ratio (GER) in India,” Kumar reportedly said.

Also read | Over 33% of SC, ST, OBC students drop out in Class 10: UDISE+ Report

According to the country's education ministry, the dropout rate in the academic year 2019-20 was higher for students from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar have the poorest retention rate among government higher secondary students.