Kerala Sees Rise in Primary School Dropout Rates: Union Data

Swift Summary

• retention Rate: Kerala’s primary level retention rate is 97.5%, though several states have achieved 100%.
• Dropout Rates:

– Lower Primary: Increased from 0% in 2023-24 to 0.8% in 2024-25.
– Upper Primary: Increased from 0% to 0.4%.
– Secondary Level: rose from 3.4% in the previous year to 4.8%.

• National Comparison:

– National dropout rates for primary are at 0.3%, upper primary 3.5%, and secondary 11.5%.
– Chandigarh recorded the lowest secondary dropout rate (2%), West bengal the highest (20%).

• Gender Disparity:

– Boys show consistently higher dropout rates compared to girls, especially at the secondary level (boys: 5.8%, girls: 3.7%).

• Gross Enrolment ratio (GER):

– Kerala’s GER for lower primary dropped from 97% in previous years to 93% in the latest data.
– GER for upper primary, secondary, and higher levels remained stable or improved.

• Infrastructure Highlights:

– Functional computer facilities are present in 99.1% of schools; however, only 91.7% have internet, with government schools lagging behind (89%).
– Only 35.5% of schools have functional toilets friendly to children with special needs (CWSN); government schools performed better (54%) than aided/unaided ones.
– Ramps with handrails available in about “68%” of schools; governmental ones fare best (85%).

• policy Suggestion by SSK Director Supriya A.R.:

Monitoring unrecognized unaided neighboring schools attended by young students either via policy streamlining or UDISE+ inclusion for accurate data collection.

Indian Opinion Analysis

Kerala’s recent educational data shows a mixed picture of progress and challenges that demand attention at both policy and operational levels within state schooling systems.
While notable improvements like high retention rates continue, rising dropout percentages across all levels reflect worrying trends that merit urgent intervention strategies-especially aimed at addressing gaps appearing after prior gains were achieved last academic year.

The decline observed specifically around Gross Enrollment Ratio hints structural deficiencies-the role potentially aligns basic engine incompatibility w/unregulated datasets overliaed teacher drop analytics Tension