Decline in school dropout rate bodes well for state

A recently released report by the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) shows a nationwide decline in school dropout rates. In Maharashtra too, the number of students quitting school has fallen considerably, shrinking from 7% in 2004-06 to an impressive 2.5% in 2006-07 for students in Class I-IV. In the upper primary level too, Class V-VIII, Maharashtra is among the only six states where fewer students are leaving — down to 22% from 29% in the same period.

Authorities attribute the success to UPA government’s flagship programme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). “In 1995, SSA started various initiatives such as mid-day meals and community reach initiatives for adivasi and tribal children. Most interestingly, the dropout rate in Class X has fallen from 25% to 15% in the state,” said Narendra Kawde, project director, Maharashtra Prathamik Shikshan Parishad.

Countrywide, dropout rates at primary, upper primary and secondary levels came down by almost 4% between 2004 to 2008. This means the number of out-of-school children has reduced from 2.5 crore to 76 lakh during this period. Another good news is that the girls’ drop-out rate has declined faster than that of boys, and more SC/ST students too have stopped quitting school.

Steady progress in 23 states and 2 union territories has helped bring down the national dropout rate from 29% to 25% over three years (from 2004-05 to 2006-07) for classes I-V. States like Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Goa and Lakshwadweep have made laudable efforts by reducing these figures to absolute zero, which means they do not have any dropouts.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sikkim, Punjab, Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir are among those who have made impressive progress. However, dropouts have increased in Bihar, Haryana, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh.

“Under SSA, interventions have been made towards harnessing community support, flexible schooling for hardest to reach children, inclusion of children with special needs and special provisions to promote education of girls. Programmes like mid-day meals also complement the strategy,” said D Purandeshwari, minister of state for HRD. 

However, retaining students in higher classes still remains a serious concern for policy makers. Barring a few states, dropouts in higher classes has increased substantially, even though nationally the numbers show a decline. This is because some better performing states have covered up for the non-performing ones.

Only six states — Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi and 2 UTs Andaman and Nicobar islands and Pondicherry — have done fairly well to contain dropout rates in secondary classes (VIII-X), helping the national rate come down from 62% to 59.8%.