Parliament Question: Drop outs in Primary/Upper Primary/Secondary Level Schools

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-4015 ANSWERED ON 18.08.2025 Drop outs in Primary/Upper Primary/Secondary Level Schools

4015. Dr. Kadiyam Kavya:

Md. Rakibul Hussain:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) the number of students who dropped-out of school at the primary, upper primary and secondary levels during the last five years, State/gender/social category-wise including Dhubri district in Assam;

(b) whether the Government has drop-out data for Scheduled Tribes and children with disabilities and if so, the details thereof, State-wise;

(c) whether any studies or inquiries have been conducted to investigate reasons for students dropping out of school especially in districts of Assam;

(d) the details of remedial measures taken by the Government including scholarships and counselling;

(e) whether any tribal or minority-specific interventions are active in Dhubri and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the number of schools without functional toilets, drinking water, electricity and digital learning infrastructure (Central, State, aided), State-wise and category-wise? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b): The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education has developed the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) system to record data on indicators of school education provided by all the States and Union Territories. As per UDISE+, State/UT-wise, gender-wise and social category-wise dropout rate from the year 2019-20 to 2023-24 is

available at https://www.education.gov.in/en/parl_ques.

The PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, conducted in December 2024 by the National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (NCERT), under the Ministry of Education, assessed baseline competency development in students of Grades 3, 6, and 9 as per the National Education Policy 2020. Over 21.15 lakh students and 2.70 lakh teachers from more than 74,000 schools across 781 districts participated.

From Dhubri district, 3,103 students and 416 teachers from 115 schools took part. National, State, and District-level report cards are available at https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en.

(c): As per report titled ‘Household Social Consumption on Education in India’, NSS (75th Round) for the year 2017-18, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the major reasons for drop- out of school children are to supplement household income, to attend domestic chores, not interested in studies, unable to cope up with studies, child suffering with some disability, poor health, education not considered necessary by the parents, preparation of competitive examination, marriage etc.(d) & (e): Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. Central Government assist States and UTs through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha. Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to States and UTs for undertaking various activities, including opening/strengthening of new schools upto senior secondary level, construction of school buildings & additional classrooms, setting up, up- gradation and running of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, setting up of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas, Construction of hostels under PM-JANMAN, construction of hostels under Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan for unsaturated ST population, free uniforms, free text books, transport allowance and undertaking enrolment & retention drives.

Under ‘Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman’ (PM POSHAN) one hot cooked meal in Government and Government aided schools is provided to students at the elementary level of education, including Balvatika.

Also, under PM SHRI scheme, 382 PM SHRI schools from the State of Assam have been selected for upgradation to showcase all the components of the National Education Policy 2020. These schools focus on cognitive development and creating holistic and well- rounded individuals equipped with key 21st century skills. The scheme focuses on creating an equitable, inclusive, and joyful learning environment that caters to diverse backgrounds, multilingual needs, and varied academic abilities. These schools are designed to engage students actively in their learning process, ensuring that every child feels welcomed, cared for, and supported in a safe and stimulating environment.

The Central Sector Scheme 'National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme' is being implemented, with the objective to award scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their drop out at class VIII and encourage them to continue their education at secondary stage.

One lakh fresh scholarship is awarded to selected students of class IX every year and their continuation /renewal in classes X to XII for study in State Government, Government-aided and Local body schools under the scheme. The amount of scholarship is Rs. 12000/- per annum.

(f): As per UDISE+ 2023-24, State/UT and management wise percentage of schools with girl’s toilets, boy’s toilet, drinking water, electricity, computer and internet facility for the year 2023-24 are available

at https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics-new/udise_report_existing_23_24.pdf *****