Assam forms panel to tackle rising school dropout rates, eyes incentive-based scheme
The government has formed a committee led by Additional Secretary Krishna Baruah to investigate the reasons behind the alarming trend
A file image of a classroom in Assam
Guwahati, July 1: The Assam government has admitted that the dropout rates in the State, particularly at the secondary level, is a concern and has formed a committee to find out the reason and suggest remedial measures.
"In view of continued concerns regarding the dropouts rate, the Education department is exploring the possibility of designing a targeted incentive-based scheme, similar in approach to 'Nijut Moina', with a focus on ensuring sustained retention of secondary education, that ad-dresses economic and social barriers, and also geographic factors that contribute to school discontinuation, particularly among vulnerable and marginalized groups," a notification stated.
The committee, to be headed by Additional Secretary Krishna Baruah, will conduct a detailed study on all the aspects of dropout in the secondary level, identify the stages at which dropouts are most likely to occur, with data disaggregated by class, gender, geography and socioeconomic status.
The study would also assess the key reasons behind school dropouts, such as early marriage, domestic responsibilities, poverty, or lack of access to schools. The team also comprising members from UNICEF, Central Square Foundation and four other officials of the State education department, has been asked to submit its re-port by August 15.
The study team will submit a comprehensive evaluation report to the Chief Minister with clear recommendations on the design, structure and quantum of incentives that may be considered under the proposed scheme "which will enable the government to take informed decisions to address the drop-out issue".
Out of every 100 boys who went to school in Assam, 57.4 completed secondary education compared to 62.6 in 2019. In case of girls, 63.7 per cent of the girls completed the secondary level com-pared to 64.6 in 2019.
Assam's dropout rate is third from the bottom in the country, after Bihar and Meghalaya.
According to the UDISE (Unified District Information System for Education) report of 2023-24, at the secondary level, Assam's dropout rate (19.46) is second highest after Bihar (20.86) and at level, fourth highest (8.16) after Bihar (25.95), Meghalaya (12.41) and Jharkhand (9).
The recent PGI (performance grading index) assessment of the Union ministry also said in the domain 'Ac-cess'-an assessment of enrolment, retention of students, transition of students to next grade, identification and mainstreaming of out-of-school children Assam dropped four points from 50.2 in 2022-23 to 46.0 in mid-2023-24, and is third from the bottom just above Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.