A Decline in Dropout Rate Among Schoolgirls

There has been a decline in dropout rate among schoolgirls in India, shared Union Minister Annpurna Devi on Monday 05 April 2022

There has been a decline in dropout rate among schoolgirls in India. The information was shared when Congress Member of Parliament DK Suresh questioned about the dropout rates for schoolgirls in Lok Sabha. In response to this Union Minister Annpurna Devi shared that that the dropout rate has been declining consistently.

Sharing the finding from the education ministry’s database, Devi concluded that there has been a decrease in the dropout rates of schoolgirls. She also stated the statistics that showed that schoolgirls accounted for 1.2 percent at the primary level in 2019-20. Data also showed a decline in dropout rate to 15.1 percent from 17 percent in 2018-19 and 18.4 percent in 2017-18 at the secondary level.

The state of Bihar, accounted for the highest drop-out rate at the primary level, consecutively for three years with 13.3 percent (2017-18), 12.9 percent (2018-19), and 9.2 percent in (2019-20) according to the data provided by the centre. Assam, on the other hand, had the highest drop-out rate in secondary education level in 2017-18 and 2019-20 with 35.2 percent and 32.9 percent respectively. Despite the high numbers, the stats also show a slow but gradual decline in the dropout rates through the years.

Annpurna Devi has also brought to the Parliaments’ notice that schools have been opened in every neighborhood. Students are being provided with free textbooks and uniforms up to Class 7. Additionally, gender-segregated toilets are being built in every school to promote education among girls. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas have been sanctioned in Educationally Backward Blocks, as an effort to reduce gender gaps at all levels of schooling. “These schools are residential from classes 6 to 12 for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups,” stated Devi. Currently, there are reportedly 10, 5018 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas across the country in which 665000 girls have been enrolled.

“Additionally, all States and UTs [Union territories] have been requested to proactively track girls as well as transgender children, who are not enrolled in schools or have dropped out of school without completing their school education and get them admitted in age-appropriate classes in schools,” Devi added in her reply.

While the government has presented positive findings, a previous UNICEF report released earlier this month had suggested an increase in the drop-out rates among girl students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The poll cited in the report showed, that 38 percent of respondents knew of a girl who dropped out of school after or during the pandemic.

-Staff Reporter