School dropout rate among boys higher than girls in Bengal, says survey
KOLKATA: A recent survey released by the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) has pointed out that the dropout rate among the boys in Bengal is higher than the girls.
The overall dropout rate in the state in the secondary level stands at 13.8 per cent is also much lower than the national average of 17.3 per cent. Interestingly, even when 14.1 per cent boys have dropped out, the girl students dropout rate is only 13.6 per cent. The survey is part of an annual exercise by the Union government
According to the report, in the Upper primary section that is between the class V to Class VII the dropout rate in the state is nil when the national dropout rate is as high at 2.6 per cent. In the primary section (between Class I to Class IV) the national dropout rate is 1.5 per cent whereas in Bengal the dropout rate is only 0.6 per cent with the boy students dropping out by 0.9 per cent and the girl students opting out by 0.3 per cent.
The report reveals that there are 19 states/ Union territories where the dropout rate at the secondary level (classes IX and X) is higher than the all India rate with states like Tripura, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh having over 25 per cent dropout rate. Delhi too has a dropout rate of over 20 per cent.
"Our constant effort in promoting and empowering girls in the state has been the key to low dropout rate. The Kanyashree project has been a huge success. Most states in the country including the Central government have similar projects to educate and empower girls but Bengal's success lies in the implementing mechanism," a senior official of the state Women and Child Development department said.
The survey shows that the state has been successful in bringing the minority community under the purview of the state's education system. In 2019 -20, overall 30.9 per cent minority students have enrolled themselves in different state education facilities of which 32.4 per cent are girls and the 29.4 per cent are boys. This is far better than the national average where only 17.6 per cent have enrolled themselves with 18.1 per cent girls and 17.1 per cent boys.
State-wise data released by the UDISE+ shows that of the 187487792 students enrolled from pre-primary to class XII in the academic session of 2019-20, there are 232012 more girl students than the boy students. When the number of girl students is 9489902, the number of boy students is 9257890.
