‘School dropout rate highest in UP, Gujarat, Assam; Bengal fairs better’

Kolkata: BJP’s ‘vendetta’ politics and maligning Bengal on various pretexts has once again fallen flat as the Mamata Banerjee-led state government has performed fairly well in national certification on various parameters, including school/college dropouts whereas the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Assam have emerged as the highest contributors.

A report published by the Statistical and Programme Implementation Ministry for the year 2020-21 said Bengal bottoms the list of states when it comes to school dropout rate while BJP-ruled states are at the top of the list.

The report was prepared to assess the situation across the country during the two years of the Covid pandemic as schools, colleges and other institutions remained closed. The survey was performed on students aged between 15 and 24 years.

The survey report revealed that Uttar Pradesh has registered the highest institutional dropouts. In Yogi Adityanath’s state, the school and college dropout rate among girl students was registered at 52.5 per cent. The survey was performed in cities and villages of Uttar Pradesh.

In Assam, the dropout rate among girl students in the same age group was registered at 50.9 per cent which is the second highest. The figure drops down to less than 15 per cent in the case of Bengal.

Gujarat, the state model BJP often boasts of, has seen a dropout rate of 50 per cent. When the survey was undertaken, it was found that in most of the cases, girl students were forced to get married before they finished their school education. The BJP-ruled states failed miserably to check the dropout rate and bring girls students back to school.

The Central government report also claimed that girls in villages are sitting idle in their houses after undertaking various vocational courses. The situation is worse in the villages.

The school-going rate of male students is higher than the corresponding figures of girl students. The school dropout rate among girls stands at 43.8 per cent in the country while the corresponding figure for boys stands at 16.1 per cent.

India has the highest number of students aged between 15 and 24 years who have stopped going to institutions and have completed various vocational courses.

Odisha has registered 36.8 per cent of the students who have dropped out from the institutions and have gone through some vocational courses. Odisha records the figure at 36.8 per cent, Assam at 35.2 per cent and Uttar Pradesh at 33.5 per cent.

The Bengal government’s various social and development schemes like the students’ credit cards, scholarships, and distribution of tabs have checked the school dropout rate to a great extent.