BHUBANESWAR: Odisha’s dropout rate at secondary level (Class IX to XII) and middle level (Class VI to VIII) of education has gone up marginally. However, the retention rate of students, which is the percentage of students who enrol in a school and continue over a specific period of time, has also increased since the last academic year, revealed the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2024-25 report released by the Ministry of Education on Thursday.
In the 2023-24 academic session, the dropout rate at secondary level stood at 9.1 per cent (pc), 2 pc at middle level and 0.5 pc at preparatory level (Class III to V). This rate increased to 9.8 pc at secondary level, 3.2 pc at middle level and 1.4 pc at preparatory level in 2024-25 academic session.
But in terms of retaining students, the state has demonstrated a positive trend across the middle and secondary levels compared to the previous academic session, increasing from 87.8 pc to 92.4 pc at middle level and 48.3 pc to 53.1 pc at secondary level.
At the preparatory level, the rate has remained consistent at 100 pc in both the academic sessions. This reflects the impact of targeted interventions including engaging children in educational activities to help reduce early departure from the schooling system, the report stated.
There are 61,564 schools in the state of which 48,625 are managed by government and 5,868 are government aided. There are 76.4 lakh children in all schools (average enrolment per school stands at 124 students) and 49.6 lakh of them are studying in government schools.
The pupil-teacher Ratio (PTR) at the foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary levels have been reported as 7, 10, 15, 21 respectively as against the national average of 10, 13, 18 and 21.
The academic year 2024-25 has also seen a rise in the representation of female teachers in the state, with women now comprising 52.47 pc of the total teaching workforce. Since 2024-25, the state has 81,990 teachers including 43,082 female teachers. The teachers’ strength was 78,741 in 2023-24 of which, women were 40,477 in number.
Commissioner-cum-secretary of the School & Mass Education department Shalini Pandit said special measures are being taken to further bring down the dropout rate at all educational levels. “In order to achieve the ambitious goal of Viksit Odisha, we are strategising to bring down dropout rates and ensuring quality education for all.
The School and Mass Education department recently conducted a house-to-house survey to identify dropouts, and an ‘Aasa School Jiba’ campaign is being planned to enrol all children in school,” she told this paper.
DROPOUT RATE
Preparatory Grade - 1.4 pc
Middle Grade - 3.2 pc
Secondary Grade - 9.8 pc
TRANSITION RATE
Foundational to Preparatory - 98.7 pc
Preparatory to Middle - 96.6 pc
Middle to Secondary - 91.7 pc
RETENTION RATE
Foundational Grade - 98.3 pc
Preparatory Grade - 100 pc
Middle Grade - 92.4 pc
Secondary Grade - 53.1