Lok Sabha Question No. 5888 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-30
Subject: Low Attendance of Adolescents in Schools
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Vijay Kumar Hansdak

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-5888

ANSWERED ON 30.03.2026

## Low Attendance of Adolescents in Schools

5888. Shri Vijay Kumar Hansdak:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that the dropout rate at secondary and higher secondary levels of education still continues to be quite significant in the country;
- (b)  if  so,  whether  large  number  of  adolescents  are  not  attending  the  school  because  they  have  to supplement households' income, attend to domestic chores or that they find education not necessary;
- (c) if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the details of the steps taken by the Government to attract and retain out-of-school adolescents in secondary and higher secondary levels of school education in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a): The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education has developed the  Unified  District  Information  System  for  Education  Plus  (UDISE+)  system  to  record  data  on indicators  of  school  education  provided  by  all  the  States  and  Union  Territories.  Dropout  rate  is calculated  at  primary,  Upper  Primary  and  secondary  level  of  education.  As  per  UDISE+  2024-25, dropout rate for secondary level of education is 11.5.

As per the data available on UDISE+, advancements have been made in improving universal access across all levels of school education. This is evidenced by Gross Access Ratio (GAR) for 2018-19 and 2024-25:

| Year    |   Primary |   Upper Primary |   Secondary |   Higher Secondary |
|---------|-----------|-----------------|-------------|--------------------|
| 2018-19 |     97.15 |           96.49 |       88.24 |              65.05 |
| 2024-25 |     97.83 |           96.57 |       95.35 |              94.97 |

GAR: Gross access ratio (GAR) is total villages/habitations  having school within specified norm in a year out of total villages/habitations in that year.

(b) to (d): As per report titled 'Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)' for the year 2023-24 released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the major reasons for the students who never attended or ever attended but currently not attending the schools are to supplement household income, to attend domestic chores, education not considered necessary, etc.

Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of respective  State  and  UT  Governments.  The  Central  Government  assist  States  and  UTs through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha and hot cooked meal provided from Balvatika to class 8 under Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Yojna. Financial assistance/grant is also provided to the States and UTs for various activities to reduce dropout and increase enrolment in Government schools, which include opening/strengthening of new schools up to Senior Secondary level, strengthening school infrastructure, setting up and up gradation and running of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) upto class 12, setting up of residential schools/hostels named Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas, hostels under Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) and Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA), transport allowance, undertaking enrolment drives, seasonal hostels/residential camps, provision of vocational  education  and  ICT  facilities  in  schools,  providing  free  text  books  and  free  uniform, transport/escort  facility,  etc,  financial  assistance/grant  is  also  provided  for  aids  and  appliances  for children with special needs.

Government  has  also taken initiatives such  as  Vidya  Samiksha  Kendra  (VSK)  and implementation of Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) ID to monitor the drop out and other education indicators. VSK has been developed with strategies designed to enhance the effectiveness of monitoring of educational initiatives and their eventual outcomes. A key feature of VSK is tracking of dropout students, monitoring of students migrating from one school to the other, progress of learning outcomes and real-time monitoring of various interventions, aimed at improving access, students' academic performance and enhancing teachers' accountability in schools. APAAR, as part of the 'One Nation, One Student ID' programme, is a 12-digit lifelong student ID that is linked to Aadhar.

Special training for age-appropriate admission of out of school children and residential as well as  non-residential  training  for  older  children,  seasonal  hostels  /  residential  camps,  special  training centres at worksites, transport/ escort facility are also supported to bring out of school children to the formal  schooling  system  including  support  to  complete  their  education  through  NIOS  (National Institute  of  Open  Schooling)/SIOS  (State  Institute  of  Open  Schooling).  Under  the  student-oriented component for the children with special needs, financial assistance is provided for identification and assessment of children  with special needs, aids  and appliances, braille kits and books, appropriate teaching learning material and stipend to girl students with disability etc .

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