Guwahati: Despite concerted efforts by the government to improve the state of education, dropout rates in state-run primary schools across Assam have continued to rise in recent years, according to the latest Economic Survey.
The Economic Survey for 2023-24 highlighted education as a crucial factor for balanced social and fiscal development. It revealed that the average annual dropout rate in lower primary (LP) schools in the state reached 8.49 percent in the academic year 2022-23. This marked an increase from 6.02 percent in 2021-22, 4.3 percent in 2019-20, and 3.1 percent in 2018-19, as per data from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE).
Similarly, the dropout rate in upper primary (UP) schools rose to 10.33 percent in 2022-23 from 8.81 percent in the previous academic year.
The Economic Survey noted that while the transition rate from primary to upper primary schools stood at 89.7 percent, dropout rates varied across districts. South Salmara district recorded the highest dropout rate for LP schools at 22.52 percent, while Sivasagar had the lowest rate at 4.02 percent. In the upper primary level, South Salmara again had the highest dropout rate at 32.39 percent, with Sivasagar recording the lowest at 4.03 percent.
Assam currently has 33,937 government and provincialized LP schools, primarily located in rural areas, along with 5,815 upper primary schools, with the majority situated in rural regions.
Despite the concerning rise in dropout rates, the gross enrollment ratio (GER) has shown an overall increase. The GER for elementary schools (Class 1 to 8) reached 109.8 percent in 2021-22, up from 104.5 percent in 2020-21 and 107.4 percent in 2019-20. However, the GER for senior secondary schools remains considerably low at 40.1 percent in 2021-22.
The government has undertaken various initiatives to encourage education development, including providing free textbooks to students. In the academic year 2023-24, 46,69,501 students were furnished with free textbooks, building upon the 41,51,498 students who received them in 2022.
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