Assam has the highest dropout rate among Primary & Secondary schools: MHRD minister

GUWAHATI: Assam has the highest dropout rate among Primary & Secondary schools, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

He was responding to a query posed by BJP MP from Maharashtra Amar Shankar Sable.

Dropout rates in other northeastern states continue to be quite high due to various reasons, such as poverty, health and other economic reasons, Pokhriyal said.

However most of the states have been able to bring down the numbers to a single digit, he added.

In Assam, during 2017-2018, dropout rate in primary classes stood at 10.1 percent and for secondary classes, it was 33.7 percent. Arunachal Pradesh registered dropout rates at 8.1 percent and 32 percent for primary and secondary category respectively.

It is important to note that, this year in a review meeting of the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in Assam, some 3.12 lakh children were also identified as 'ghost children' because they do not exist.

According to reports. officials said that the number of students studying in government and provincialized schools in 2018-19 was around 46 lakh, which is lower than the 49 lakh figure of the 2016-17 session. The additional figure was therefore misleading.

The government accused the previous administration of this. It accused the previous government of showing these wrong figures in government schools for embezzling public money in the name of textbooks, mid-day meals, uniforms and other paraphernalia for these non-existent students.

The Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal had said at the review meeting that strict action would be taken against those found guilty

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