Skip to main content

Upper primary: India govt report finds Gujarat has very high girl child school dropout, low enrollment

Irani in Kudasan studying Gujarat model
By Rajiv Shah
Just a week after Union human resources minister Smriti Irani came to Gujarat to “study” and “replicate” the Gujarat model of education, a high-level report, prepared by the Union ministry of human resources, operating directly under her, has come up with a big shocker: The report has found that girls’ dropout ratio in Gujarat at the upper primary level (classes 6 to 8) to be one of the highest in India, suggesting that Gujarat government’s kanya kelavni drive for ensuring girl child participation in education has failed to succeed.
Titled “Elementary Education in India: Progress towards Universal Elementary Education”, the report has found that the average dropout rate of girls at the upper primary level in Gujarat is 8.19 per cent, which higher than all major states except Madhya Pradesh (10.27 per cent). The all-India average dropout rate for girls at the higher primary level is 4.01 per cent, half that of Gujarat. Interestingly, for the boys, too, the dropout at the upper primary level is quite high – 2.75 per cent, which is slightly less than the all-India average of 2.30 per cent.
Significantly, even states with poor social indicators have performed better than Gujarat. Thus, the girl dropout rate for Assam is 6.55 per cent, of Chhattisgarh 4.73 per cent, of Jharkhand 5.94 per cent, of Odisha 3.52 per cent, of Rajasthan 6.34 per cent, and of Uttar Pradesh 3.10 per cent. No figures have been provided for states known to best and worst performers – Kerala and Bihar. In neighbouring Maharashtra, the girls’ dropout at upper primary is 2.72 per cent, in Tamil Nadu it is 3.11 per cent, Andhra Pradesh 3.51 per cent, and Karnataka 5.15 per cent.
Things are no better for net enrollment rate of children at lower primary and upper primary level – it is 82.92 per cent and 68.39 per cent respectively – which is once again lower than most Indian states. The all-India average here is 88.05 per cent and 70.20 per cent, respectively, suggesting that Gujarat is unable to enroll as many primary school going children as it claims. Released this month, the report comes just a few days after Gujarat government launched its three-day kanya kelavni drive, in which government officials are supposed to go to schools to ensure cent per cent enrollment.
Inter-state comparison for primary level net enrollment suggests even Bihar is a better performer than Gujarat with 91.66 per cent. Other poorer states which have performed better than Gujarat are Chhattisgarh (93.79 per cent), Jharkhand (96.49 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (93.66 per cent), Odisha (89.05 per cent), and Uttar Pradesh (87.03 per cent). The situation is similar with the upper primary, where Bihar (79.06 per cent), Assam (76.49 per cent), Chhattisgarh (76.80 per cent), Jharkhand (68.53 per cent), are better performers than Gujarat.
Irani was in Gujarat on June 13, when she met Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel and discussed various education programmes, especially those focusing on girls, launched by the state government, in order to “replicate” these at the national level. During her visit, she inaugurated a Smart School in Kudasan village in Gandhinagar district, and took part in the kenya kelavni drive, which is part of shala praveshotsav (school enrollment festival), the annual event organized by the state government.

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk  A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.