Number of drop outs surging in State schools
| Date :23-Jul-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
Bhilai,
According to the report of Department of School Education, 12.5 lakh students were enrolled in class 1 in all districts (both in Government as well as private schools) in 2009 but only 8.6 lakh students appeared in class 10 board exam in 2019
Out of 100 children enrolling in class 1, only 71 manage to complete their schooling in State which means 29 students quit their studies in midway. Most of the drop outs are reported from districts of Surguja division where only 50 students manage to complete their school education. Majority of the population is Scheduled Caste (SC) here. According to the report of Department of School Education, 12.5 lakh students were enrolled in class 1 in all districts (both in Government as well as private schools) in 2009 but only 8.6 lakh students appeared in class 10 board examination conducted by various boards in 2019.
That means around 4.9 lakh students failed to sustain their school education and they were forced to quit after completing primary or upper primary education. Similarly in 2008, 12.34 lakh students were admitted in class 1 but only 8.2 lakh students appeared in class 10 board examinations conducted in 2018. The maximum drop out of the students was registered at five districts of Surguja division. In 2009, 3.26 lakh students took admission in class 1, but in 2019, only 1.65 lakh students appeared in class 10 examination. Thus in this 10 year period, over 50% students left school before reaching secondary education.
The interesting part is that, in districts of tribal dominated Bastar division, no huge drop out of students was registered during this period. In districts of Bastar, 3.05 lakh students were enrolled in class 1 in 2009 of which 2.75 lakh students appeared in class 10 board examination in 2019. After Surguja division, districts of Bilaspur division recorded maximum drop out of students in this period. Interestingly, maximum population of districts in this division is of scheduled caste. In 2009, 4.12 lakh students were enrolled in class 1 out of which 2.95 lakh students appeared in class 10 board examinations. In Raipur division and Durg division, 25% and 16% students respectively left their education before reaching class 10 during this duration. ‘Twenty children went in class 1, but only 12 came out from primary to secondary education.
While this may look like question from class 3 mathematics text book, it is actually part of a problem that the school education of the state is dealing with. Many of them were of view that, poverty is a big reason for dropout and this argument needs to be analysed by state government at the earliest’ said Gautam Banerjee, state coordinator of Right to Education Forum of Chhattisgarh.
Education experts as well as officials of education department agreed that students from poor family drop out due to a variety of reasons. ‘Getting a secondary education becomes very difficult for students coming from poor economic conditions. Till class 8, they get facilities like free books, uniform, midday meals etc, then in class 9, almost all such facilities end. In rural areas many students have to travel far for secondary education. Owing to these reasons many students drop out and even those who do enroll find it difficult to attend regularly,’ stated one senior officer of Chhattisgarh School Education Department. When contacted, Premsai Singh Tekam, State Minister of School Education in Chhattisgarh, expressed his unawareness about these figures and refused to comment.