Thiruvananthapuram: Education Minister V Sivankutty informed the state assembly that over one lakh students have dropped out of public schools in Kerala. He attributed the decline to a fall in the birth rate.

Compared to the 2023-24 academic year, the number of students in government and aided schools decreased by 1,17,049 in 2024-25. The minister explained that students who appeared for the SSLC exam in March 2024 were born 15 years ago, in 2009, when 5.5 lakh births were registered. In contrast, children joining Class 1 in the 2024-25 academic year were born in 2019, when only about 4.8 lakh births were recorded.

This marks a decline of 70,000 births between 2009 and 2019, which has affected school enrolment. In March 2024, 4,02,624 students completed Class 10 from public schools. In June, 2,50,986 students enrolled in Class 1. The minister stated that the total number of students from Classes 1 to 10 in government, aided, and recognised unaided schools in the 2024-25 academic year stands at 36,43,642.