Check high dropout rate in schools: Govt

Taking note of high dropout rate in government-run primary and upper primary schools, the Uttar Pradesh government has ordered the officials to reverse the trend or face music.

In around 35 districts, the dropout rate was between 10 to 32.88 per cent in 2016-17.

The government has decided to make Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA) officials and Basic Siksha Adhikaris (BSAs) accountable for high rate of dropouts in staterun basic schools.

Issuing directives to SSA officials and BSAs, director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, UP Vedpati Mishra has instructed the officials to find out reasons responsible for high rate of dropout in basic schools and improve them accordingly by making effective plan.

He has instructed basic education officials to ensure that students get study materials and uniforms in time and teachers

DRIVE HAS ALSO BEEN LAUNCHED TO INCREASE ENROLMENTS IN BASIC SCHOOLS IN STATE

arrive in schools on time. The recent report of U-DISE shows that the dropout rate in basic schools in 35 districts of state in 2016-17 was between 10% to 33%.

U-DISE (Unified District Information System for Education) is a database of information about schools in India. It records information such as the rate of dropouts in states.

However, among these 35 districts, 10 were shortlisted in the category where the rate of dropouts was comparatively much higher (between 15% and 33%) than the remaining 25 districts. These 10 districts include Agra, Meerut, Amethi, Shahjahanpur, Muradabad, Sitapur, Balrampur, Bareilly, Shamli and Rae Bareli. Similarly, the dropout rates in the remaining 25 districts including Siddharthnagar, Ballia, Amroha, Chitrakoot, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Kushi Nagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Mainpuri , Eta, Badaun, Firozabad, Faizabad, Sambhal, Kannauj, Bhadohi, Kaushambi, Gonda, Shrawasti, Mirzapur, Azamgarh, Pilibhit and Banda which all registered just above 10% drop outs.

According to Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) report published in May 2017, the basic schools of Uttar Pradesh has registered a decline in enrolment up to 18.6% from 2010-16. The report also maintains that on an average, there were 20 lakh drop-outs every year between 2010 and 2016, whereas the state government claims that the average was 0.63 lakh.

‘School Chalo Abhiyaan’ has also been launched in state to increase enrolments in basic schools.

Assistant director (Basic), Allahabad division Ramesh Tiwari said that the move was aimed to improve the quality of elementary education and increase rate of enrolment in basic schools.