J&K schools face increase in dropout rate in last 2 years

By: Riyaz Bhat

Srinagar: In a worrisome revelation, Jammu and Kashmir, in the past two years, is facing an increase in dropout rate at primary, upper primary and secondary school levels, an official report quoted by KNO news agency suggests.

At the primary level, J&K was facing a dropout rate of 3.89 percent in the year 2022-23, that further increased to 8.87 percent in the year 2023-24.

The report also states that at upper primary level, Jammu & Kashmir was facing a dropout rate of 2.65 percent in the year 2022-2023 and 4.23 percent in the preceding academic year.

The official figures further reveal that the dropout rate at secondary level was alarming from the past four years.

The data further reveals that in 2020-21, Jammu and Kashmir schools at secondary level were facing a dropout rate of 3.68 percent followed by 5.96 percent in 2021-22 and 6.20 percent in the academic year 2022-23.

The report suggests that in the academic year 2023-24, schools in Jammu and Kashmir at secondary level were facing a dropout rate of 9.07 percent.

According to the report, J&K is having a network of 24,241 schools including 18,724 government and 5,517 other management schools with a total enrollment of over 25.94 lakh students from Pre-Primary to class XII during 2023-24.

“Enrollment ratio has increased from 93.15 to 104.02 at Primary level, 66.55 to 68.93 at upper primary level and 58.66 to 60.85 at Secondary level from 2019-20 to 2023-24,” it reads.

Comparing the dropout rate from 2019-20 and 2023-24, the documents states that the dropout rate has increased from 5.86 to 8.87 at Primary level, decreases from 5.14 to 4.23 at Upper Primary level and 18.48 to 9.07 at Secondary level from 2019-20 to 2023-24.—(KNO)