Parliament Question: Dropout Rate of Students at various Level of Schools

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-3603 ANSWERED ON 10.08.2026 Dropout Rate of Students at various Level of Schools 3603. Shri K Radhakrishnan: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) the dropout rate among students at the primary, secondary and higher secondary levels during the last five years, State-wise; (b) the details of the reasons identified for such dropouts; and (c) the measures taken to reduce dropout rates particularly among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and girls? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a): As per Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), State/UT-wise dropout rate from the year 2021-22 to 2025-26 at the primary and secondary levels are available at annexure. (b): As per report titled ‘Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)’ for the year 2025 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, etc. (c): 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 and ICT facilities in schools, providing free text books and free uniform, transport/escort facility, etc. Government has also taken initiatives such as Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) and implementation of Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) ID to monitor the drop out and other education indicators. VSK has been developed with strategies designed to enhance the effectiveness of monitoring of educational initiatives and their eventual outcomes. A key feature of VSK is student tracking to prevent dropouts, monitoring of students migrating from one school to the other, progress of learning outcomes and real-time monitoring of various interventions, aimed at improving access, students' academic performance and enhancing teachers' accountability in schools. APAAR, as part of the 'One Nation, One Student ID' programme, is a 12-digit lifelong student ID that is linked to Aadhar. ******Annexure ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3603 ANSWERED ON 10/08/2026 ASKED BY HON’BLE MP SHRI K RADHAKRISHNAN REGARDING ‘DROPOUT RATE OF STUDENTS AT VARIOUS LEVEL OF SCHOOLS’ State/UT-wise dropout rate from the year 2021-22 to 2025-26 at the primary and secondary levels Primary Secondary State/UT 2021- 2022- 2023- 2024- 2025- 2021- 2022- 2023- 2024- 2025- 22 23 24 25 26 22 23 24 25 26 India 1.5 7.8 1.9 0.3 0.3 12.6 16.4 14.1 11.5 9.5 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 0.4 0.0 0.8 0.3 0.0 5.0 5.5 5.5 5.4 3.6 Andhra Pradesh 0.0 0.0 0.2 1.4 0.0 16.3 14.7 12.5 15.5 9.7 Arunachal Pradesh 9.3 15.0 5.4 4.8 3.3 11.7 16.9 19.3 18.3 13.0 Assam 6.0 8.5 6.2 3.8 1.4 20.3 29.5 25.1 17.5 14.3 Bihar 0.0 10.7 8.9 2.9 2.5 20.5 29.5 25.6 6.9 9.0 Chandigarh 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 1.1 2.9 2.0 1.3 Chhattisgarh 0.8 5.4 1.8 0.7 1.1 9.7 18.2 16.3 15.3 16.1 Dadra & Nagar Haveli and 0.0 0.0 1.6 0.0 0.0 9.5 18.8 18.7 12.5 12.4 Daman & Diu Delhi 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.8 7.3 10.4 7.5 7.1 Goa 0.0 0.3 0.8 0.3 0.2 9.0 8.8 8.1 9.3 6.4 Gujarat 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.0 17.9 23.3 21.0 16.9 15.7 Haryana 0.0 1.4 1.2 0.0 0.0 5.9 15.4 13.8 6.6 5.4 Himachal Pradesh 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 1.5 6.7 4.9 6.2 5.6 Jammu & Kashmir 4.0 8.9 1.6 1.5 1.1 6.0 9.0 13.4 12.9 11.6 Jharkhand 1.8 11.5 0.9 0.0 0.1 9.3 25.7 15.2 3.5 6.6 Karnataka 0.0 0.0 1.7 0.0 0.0 14.7 14.9 22.1 18.3 18.1 Kerala 0.0 3.1 0.0 0.8 0.2 5.5 6.7 3.4 4.8 4.1 Ladakh 6.5 5.1 4.3 2.6 2.2 4.9 11.6 19.8 16.2 16.8 Lakshadweep 0.5 4.6 2.3 0.6 1.1 0.0 9.8 2.6 4.1 2.6 Madhya Pradesh 3.1 6.8 1.0 0.0 0.1 10.1 21.4 17.7 16.8 13.0 Maharashtra 0.0 5.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.7 16.0 10.1 11.5 9.0 Manipur 13.3 12.9 4.5 2.9 6.4 1.3 13.5 15.3 9.1 8.6 Meghalaya 9.8 13.6 7.5 4.2 3.7 21.7 28.9 22.0 17.4 6.7 Mizoram 6.4 14.8 3.5 10.8 1.7 11.9 24.0 14.8 17.4 9.3 Nagaland 5.0 9.8 4.5 2.8 3.3 17.5 21.5 11.6 12.1 13.3 Odisha 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.2 27.3 17.7 12.8 15.0 13.7 Puducherry 3.7 3.2 1.2 0.0 0.0 6.3 7.5 7.8 5.9 2.9 Punjab 1.3 3.1 0.1 2.5 0.7 17.2 9.7 6.0 6.2 5.6 Rajasthan 3.6 4.4 7.6 3.6 2.8 7.7 11.9 11.1 7.7 8.8 Sikkim 1.8 4.5 2.6 1.5 0.2 11.9 15.4 19.0 11.4 13.1 Tamil Nadu 0.0 2.3 0.0 2.7 0.0 4.5 10.3 7.7 8.5 6.2 Telangana 0.0 2.1 0.0 0.0 0.5 13.7 11.6 11.4 13.2 5.8 Tripura 1.1 1.4 0.5 0.0 0.0 8.3 17.9 10.4 11.3 10.4 Uttar Pradesh 2.7 18.8 1.7 0.0 0.0 9.7 14.7 8.7 7.0 8.4 Uttarakhand 0.8 7.4 0.1 0.9 1.9 5.0 8.4 7.0 4.6 6.1 West Bengal 8.6 8.1 0.0 1.4 0.0 18.0 8.5 17.8 20.0 5.5 Source: UDISE+