Why student dropout rates in schools are on a rise in India.

The dropout rate in Indian schools averaged around 15% in 2017 and has increased by 100% since then. This was the statistic shared by the Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in 2020.

Educationally progressive states in India are seeing more than 16% dropout rates by students from standard 9th and 10th. Also the dropout rate in secondary standards rose from 8% to 10% and primary standards rose from 5% to 6% in a time span of just 1 year. This is a very alarming situation for both the government as well as the authoritarian body in the educational system. This dropout rate is even more in the smaller and under developed states.

Some reasons behind the dropouts in schools might be the economic condition i.e poverty, child suffering or disability, poor health, domestic work and the importance of education in children or parents.

Root causes :-

1. Economic condition — Officials have compiled statistics that show that in India more than 21% of families live below the poverty line. This leads to children dropping out of the schools to earn money for paying their day to day essentials like food and shelter, due to which the importance of things such as survival takes over the importance of being literate.
2. Poor health — On the narrow and traffic-free roads of Kannagi Nagar, five-year-old Kumar (name changed) plays cricket with a group of boys. Most of them are older to him. As they disperse and leave for their respective homes at lunchtime, Kumar stays back, all alone. Sitting on a small bench by the side of the road, the frail boy waits for new company to play with. When asked if he is not going home for lunch, he shrugs, “Pasi ille (I am not hungry).” The truth, however, is different — there is no good food at home. Kumar has been skipping lunch ever since the lockdown started in the city. Before the lockdown, the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) on 29th Cross Street is where he would have lunch. They would serve his favourite sambar rice with an egg or a vegetable. But the centre has had no teacher for more than three months now and remains shut. No proper diet is one of the main reasons behind poor health of students or child suffering or disability.
3. Importance of education — Education is not all about studying and getting good marks. It is really a means to discover new things which we don’t know about and increase our knowledge. An educated person has the ability to differentiate between right and wrong or good and evil. It is the foremost responsibility of a society to educate its citizens. If the population is majorly below the poverty line, it indicates that there is a big communication gap between the authorities and the people or children for understanding the importance of education. If the people themself are not educated, it is obvious that they would not understand the importance of educating their child and get him busy from a young age in the menial jobs.

Root cause analysis :-

1. Economic condition — It is fairly obvious that any family will first think of feeding themself and having a shelter before education. Here education becomes a luxury instead of a need. Just because a family cannot afford to pay for the education should not define what a child does or doesn’t do for living.
2. Poor health — The economic condition discussed in the previous point is the main reason for poor health and disability in children. Due to low income the families are not able to provide sufficient fully nutritious or balanced diet to their child.
3. Importance of education — Lower literacy rate due to lower income is the main reason behind the importance of education in people. As stated in the first point, education becomes a luxury and people lose its importance because it is not just a necessity now.

All these factors together cause a family or child to drop out of the school system and pursue a menial or slaved job even if that child has a good potential in future. It becomes difficult for families to provide for education if they are not even able to provide good food.

Root Cause Solutions -

1. Allotting more funds to the education sector — Allocation of funds roughly includes 2% of the budget when in consideration. Allocation of more funds to the sector might harm or disrupt the flow of the system for a short term, but it is definitely beneficial in the long run, because once some generations of people pass through the system, it will become a better system altogether as everyone will have at-least the basic knowledge and importance of education. As per my research, the education sector has become a mere political issue, which is why it has its shortcomings.
2. IAS officers to authoritarian bodies — Allotting a central officer of UPSC caliber can be much more beneficial because of the strong understanding of concept and decision making powers.
3. Redirection of government food supplies to proper places — It is a harsh fact that more than 35% of the food or raw materials which governments procure for storage is stored in some godown and is not properly distributed or allocated. It is just sitting in the big godowns rotting till the end. One good managerial operation run by such government authorities can solve the hunger problem for the nation. Providing this food to schools or similar bodies which can further distribute it to the children can vastly make a difference in a child’s life. It has been seen that children are taking an interest in coming to school for the milk provided or the snacks provided by the school just because they don’t get such luxury at home. This can make a great difference in decreasing the dropout rates of students from schools.

Implementing these steps slowly but consistently can not only make an impact on the dropout rates of students but also help in increasing the literacy rate, create new jobs and the skilled labour for it.

Thank you.