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Fewer dropouts but retention a problem in schools

Feb 01, 2025 05:54 AM IST

Government schools dominate the educational landscape, comprising 69% of all schools and enrolling 50% of students while employing 51% of teachers, the survey said

India’s school dropout rates have steadily declined across all levels, but student retention remains a significant challenge with less than half of students completing higher secondary education, according to the Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled in Parliament on Friday.

The survey said that retention rates — the proportion of children who remained enrolled since the first grade — paint a more complex picture: it was 85.4% for primary, dropping to 78% for elementary, 63.8% for secondary, and just 45.6% for higher secondary levels. (HT File)
The survey said that retention rates — the proportion of children who remained enrolled since the first grade — paint a more complex picture: it was 85.4% for primary, dropping to 78% for elementary, 63.8% for secondary, and just 45.6% for higher secondary levels. (HT File)

The survey found dropout rates of 1.9% for primary (Classes I to V), 5.2% for upper primary (Classes VI to VIII), and 14.1% for secondary levels (Classes IX to XII). However, retention rates — the proportion of children who remained enrolled since the first grade — paint a more complex picture: it was 85.4% for primary, dropping to 78% for elementary, 63.8% for secondary, and just 45.6% for higher secondary levels.

These figures come as India’s massive school education system serves 248 million students across 1.5 million schools with 9.8 million teachers, according to the education ministry’s Unified District Information System for Education-Plus (UDISE+ 2023-24) report.

Government schools dominate the educational landscape, comprising 69% of all schools and enrolling 50% of students while employing 51% of teachers. Private schools make up 22.5%, with 32.6% of student enrolment and 38% of teachers, the report found.

Digital infrastructure has seen significant improvement. Schools with computers increased from 38.5% in 2019-20 to 57.2% in 2023-2024, while those with internet access rose from 22.3% to 53.9% during the same period.

The survey stated the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is built upon the principle that “education and human capital development are among the foundational pillars of development. “NEP was launched by the union government on July 29, 2020, with an aim to transform the country’s education system from school to higher education — aligning it with the needs of the future while keeping it “rooted in Indianness”.

The survey referred to growth in the higher education sector, with total enrolment reaching 43.3 million students in 2021-22, up 26.5% from 3.42 crore in 2014-15.

The survey noted that achieving the government’s target of 50% (gross enrolment ratio) GER in higher education by 2035 would require doubling the current educational infrastructure. The GER for the 18-23 age group has increased from 23.7% to 28.4% between 2014-15 and 2021-22.

The survey also emphasised technology’s role in delivering cost-effective, inclusive education, highlighting artificial intelligence applications in teaching, industry-relevant skills development, and personalised learning approaches.

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