New Delhi: Kerala is among the six states that do not have any school dropouts from classes 1 – 8. It has been mentioned in the report of the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) for the year 2020 -21. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal are the other states that are in the list. However, Kerala has a drop out rate of 7.1% in secondary classes (standards 9,10). Meanwhile, it is 31% in Assam. Meghalaya has recorded a drop out rate of 27.9% while it is 24.4% in Nagaland and 23.3% in Gujarat.
Last year, around 63,79,071 students had studied in the schools in Kerala from the pre – primary classes to class 12. 17,57,209 students studied in government schools while 27,51,582 students were in aided schools and 17,35,940 students in un aided schools. There are 1,34,340 students who are studying via other methods.
31,523 new admissions in government school
In 2019 – 20 academic year, the total number of school going students in Kerala was 64,64,071. However, it dropped by 85,000 in 2020 – 21 due to decrease in population rate. Despite this, around 31,523 new admissions have been recorded in the government schools.
Amid the COVID-19 surge, a greater number of students have been leaving private schools to continue their education in government schools. Interestingly, this trend is observed in national level too. In 2019 – 20. 9.8 crore students had studied in private schools. However, it dropped to 9.5 crore in 2022 – 21. Meanwhile, the number of students who enrolled at government schools went up from 13.09 crore to 13.49 crore.
There is a slight decrease in the total number of school going students in the country. It has gone down from 26.452 crore to 26.444 crore.