Parliament Question: Controlling of dropout rate

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO – 2923 ANSWERED ON 18/03/2026 Controlling of dropout rate 2923 Shri Mukul Balkrishna Wasnik: 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; (b) 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 is not necessary; (c) if so, the details thereof; and (d) steps taken by Government to attract and retain out-of-school adolescents in secondary and higher secondary grades of school education? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a): As per UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus), dropout rates at secondary level of education from the year 2022-23 to 2024-25 are as under: Year Level of Education 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 Secondary 16.4 14.1 11.5 Dropout rates at national level have decreased at secondary level of education. (b) & (c): 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 the schools are to supplement household income, to attend domestic chores, education not considered necessary, etc. (d): 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 andICT 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. Central Government has also developed an online module for compiling the data of Out of School Children (OoSC) identified by each State/UT and their mapping with Special Training Centres (STC) on the PRABANDH Portal. The concerned State/UT validates the child wise information of the identified OoSC and STC uploaded by the concerned Block Resource Centre of the State for monitoring the progress of mainstreaming of OoSC. ******