School dropout rates go from bad to worse in Bihar and Assam

While dropout rates decreased nationally, some States show concerning trends.
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There has been a marked improvement in the share of students continuing education into higher grades in 2024 compared to 2019, across India, without dropping out of school. Overall, of every 100 girls who started schooling, over 80 completed their secondary education without dropping out in 2024 compared to just 73.5 in 2019. Among boys, the corresponding numbers were 77.2 and 72.4 in 2024 and 2019 respectively, showing an increase, though to a lesser degree.

However, despite this improvement at an all-India level, certain major States such as Karnataka and Rajasthan have recorded significant spikes in students dropping out of upper primary and secondary schools. In Bihar and Assam — States where the dropout rates were already concerning in 2019 — the rates have slipped further in 2024.

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For instance, in Karnataka, of the 100 girls who started schooling only 76.5 completed secondary education without dropping out in 2024 compared to 79.3 in 2019. Similarly, for boys, the ratio declined to 70.7 from 73.6. In Bihar, the ratio slipped from bad to worse in the same period. Of the 100 girls who started schooling only 40.3 completed secondary education without dropping out in 2024 compared to 51.6 of them in 2019. Similarly, for boys, the ratio declined to 38.8 from 51.2.

Table 1 shows the number of students out of every 100 who completed upper primary and secondary education in 2024 and 2019. The data is provided for all major States across both genders. In direct contrast to States such as Bihar and Assam, where the situation went from bad to worse, in States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the figures improved from good to excellent.

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For instance, in Kerala, of the 100 boys who started schooling, 99.6 completed upper primary in 2019, which improved further to 100 in 2024. The number remained at 100 among girls for both years. Similarly, of the 100 boys who started schooling, 88.3 completed secondary education in 2019, which improved to 95.7 in 2024. The corresponding numbers among girls were 93.2 and 97.5.

Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, of the 100 boys who started schooling, 99 completed upper primary in 2019, which improved to 100 in 2024. Among girls, the number improved from 97.5 to 100. In secondary schooling, among boys, the number improved from 81.3 to 89.2, and among girls, it improved from 89.4 to 95.6.

While the absolute increase or decrease in the share of school students who pass on to higher grades without getting dropped out is one facet of the story, analysing the degree of increase or decrease brings out further nuances. To arrive at the degree of increase or decrease, the States were ranked as shown in Table 2.

For instance, in 2019, of the 100 girls who started schooling in Maharashtra, 83.5 completed secondary education, a figure similar to that of Uttarakhand that year. In 2024, Maharashtra’s figures improved to 90.5, however, Uttarakhand’s numbers increased even further to 92.8. While both States improved, the degree of rise was steeper for Uttarakhand.

Because of this, in Table 2, Uttarakhand’s rankings improved from 11th to 4th (for secondary girls) while Maharashtra’s rankings improved only from 12th to 7th.

States such as Gujarat have remained stagnant at the bottom of the ranking table in both years. Haryana has recorded massive drops in its rankings. The State was part of the top 10 list in all school levels across genders in 2019 and moved out of the list in 2024.

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