Assam: Dropout Rate Increases Drastically in School Children

GUWAHATI: The number of school dropouts has increased to a very high number in the Post-COVID period, informed the education minister of Assam.

The cabinet minister for education in the Assam Government has mentioned that the dropout rate of students has doubled in the state. This number is from the government institutions imparting education at the primary level. And the numbers are regarding the first session after the complete reopening of these schools after the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The education minister puts the main reason for this drop in numbers as the pandemic. Following this many of the children lost their parents and relatives and many more had to leave their studies for various other problems.

According to minister Ranoj Pegu, the state government has initiated a process to identify and filter fake students across the educational institutions of the country. The results of this step have also been reflected in a large number of dropouts in the schools of the state.

The number of dropouts have increased in the lower primary section of schools. The rate was a meagre 3.3 % before the pandemic and has doubled to 6.02 % after the schools reopened after the pandemic. Similarly, the trend has been noticed in the upper primary section as well. The numbers increased from 4.6 % to 8.8 % during the duration.

He also mentioned that the trend is exactly the opposite in the secondary schools section of the state. The dropout percentage of students was around 31% in a pre covid period and it fall to 20.3 % in the 2021-2022 educational session.

Education minister Ranoj Pegu mentioned that the total number of students that left schools is 129543 and that the data came from the Unified District Information System for Education. Commonly known as UDISE, this system was implemented by the state government to oversee the working of schools across the state.

Another key piece of information is that more than 4000 schools have closed down across the state between April 2021 and March 2022. Distributed over the primary and secondary education levels, most of these schools are private institutions and

On the other hand, over 4000 schools, from primary to secondary levels, mostly under private management, shut down in Assam between April 2021 and March 2022.

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