ALL INDIA DROPOUT RATE (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Education)

Context:  Odisha (27. 3%) has the highest dropout rate at secondary school level followed by Meghalaya (21. 7%), Bihar (20. 5%), and Assam (20. 3%), this was stated in the Rajya Sabha by the ministry of education as it shared the data for Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) and state-wise data on the transition and dropout rate at various school levels.

Key Points

• While the all India dropout rate at this stage of schooling is 12. 6%, states like West Bengal, Punjab, Nagaland, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh have dropout rates of over 15%. 
• At secondary school level the states with dropout rate higher than 15% include Andhra Pradesh (16. 3%), Gujarat (17. 9%), Punjab (17. 2%) and West Bengal (18%). 
• At primary level, the highest dropout rate is in Manipur (13. 3%). 
• Similarly at upper primary level, the highest dropout rate is in Meghalaya. 
• The data shared in Parliament is as per the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL)’s Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) system developed to record data on indicators of school education provided by all the states and UTs.