SRINAGAR: In a concerning trend, Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed an increase in the dropout rate at primary, upper primary, and secondary school levels over the past two years.
According to official figures, the dropout rate at the primary level in JK was 3.89 percent in 2022-23, which further increased to 8.87 percent in 2023-24.
At the upper primary level, Jammu and Kashmir recorded a dropout rate of 2.65 percent in 2022-23, rising to 4.23 percent in the following academic year.
The official figures further reveal that the dropout rate at the secondary level has been a concern for the past four years. In 2020-21, schools in Jammu and Kashmir recorded a secondary-level dropout rate of 3.68 percent, which increased to 5.96 percent in 2021-22 and 6.20 percent in 2022-23. The report indicates that in the academic year 2023-24, the dropout rate at the secondary level rose to 9.07 percent.
According to the report, JK has a network of 24,241 schools, including 18,724 government institutions and 5,517 schools under other managements, with a total enrolment of over 25.94 lakh students from pre-primary to Class XII during 2023-24.
“Enrolment ratio has increased from 93.15 to 104.02 at the primary level, from 66.55 to 68.93 at the upper primary level, and from 58.66 to 60.85 at the secondary level between 2019-20 and 2023-24,” the report states.
Comparing dropout rates between 2019-20 and 2023-24, the documents indicate that the rate has increased from 5.86 to 8.87 percent at the primary level, decreased from 5.14 to 4.23 percent at the upper primary level, and dropped from 18.48 to 9.07 percent at the secondary level. (KNO)
