Dropouts rise, classrooms shrink amid teacher surplus

THE latest Rajya Sabha data on Wednesday exposes a troubling churn in Gujarat's school system.

- DILIP SINGH KSHATRIYA @ Ahmedabad

Dropout rates at the secondary level remain persistently high; SC dropout patterns raise structural questions; and the number of government schools with fewer than 10 students is on the rise.

The five-year dropout trend sets the stage. Primary-level dropout rates remained nearly negligible, reaching 1.02% in 2020-21, falling to 0% for two consecutive years, and inching up slightly to 0.1% and 0.2% in 2023-24 and 2024-25, respectively. But the seemingly clean record collapses higher up.