Lok Sabha Question No. 2214 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-02
Subject: School Dropout Rate
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Abhishek Banerjee

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2214 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.08.2021

## School Dropout Rate

2214. SHRI ABHISHEK BANERJEE:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the percentage of school drop-out rates overall as well as gender-wise individually in the year 2020-21 and steps taken by the Government to address the same;
- (b)  whether the  Right  to  Education  Act  applies  only  to  students  belonging  to  the  age group of 6-14 years as a result of which drop-out rates rise from 2.8 per cent to 13.1 per cent as the children turn 15; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to address this issue?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a)  to  (c):  As  per  Unified  District  Information  System  for  Education+,  2019-20,  the gender-wise annual average dropout rate at different levels is as under:

| Gender   |   Primary |   Upper Primary |   Secondary |
|----------|-----------|-----------------|-------------|
| Boys     |       1.7 |             2.2 |        17   |
| Girls    |       1.2 |             3   |        15.1 |
| Total    |       1.5 |             2.6 |        16.1 |

Under Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha, which is an overarching scheme for school education covering all levels from pre-primary to senior secondary, financial assistance is provided to the States and UTs for various activities to  reduce  dropouts  at  secondary  level,  which  include  opening/strengthening  of  new schools up to senior secondary level, strengthening school infrastructure, setting up, upgradation  and  running  of  Kasturba  Gandhi  Balika  Vidyalayas  (KGBV)  upto  class  12, setting up of residential schools/hostels named Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas, transport allowance,  undertaking enrolment  drives, seasonal  hostels/ residential  camps,  provision  of  vocational  education  and  ICT  facilities  in  schools,  etc, financial  assistance  is  also  provided  for  aids  and  appliances  for  children  with  special needs.

Under Samagra Shiksha, for the first time in 2021-22, financial assistance upto Rs. 2000 per annum has been envisioned for supporting Out of School Children of age group  of  16-19  years,  belonging  to  socio  economically  disadvantaged  groups,  for completing  their  education  through  NIOS/SIOS,  for  accessing  course  materials  and certification.

This Department has developed an online module for compiling the data of Out of School Children (OoSC) identified by each State/UT and their mapping with Special Training  Centres  (STC)  on  the  PRABANDH  Portal  (http://samagrashiksha.in).  The concerned State/UT validates the child wise information of the identified OoSC and STC uploaded  by  the  concerned  Block  Resource  Centre  of  the  State  for  monitoring  the progress  of  mainstreaming  of  OoSC.  Also,  Bridge  Course  Modules  have  been developed  by  National  Council  of  Educational  Research  and  Training  (NCERT)  for bridging  the  learning  gaps  of  Out  of  School  Children  studying  in  Special  Training Centers (STC) under the provision of RTE Act, 2009.

Also,  under  National  Means-cum-Merit  Scholarship  Scheme,  scholarship  is awarded to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their drop out at class VIII and encourage them to continue the study at secondary stage.

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