Union Education Ministry’s U-DISE report shows more boys giving up education in Classes IX and X
PANAJI
Even though Goa is among those States with the lowest dropout rate at the secondary school level, the percentage of boys who drop out at Class IX and X is almost double that of girls in 2022-23. However, more girls chose to drop out between Classes I to VIII, despite the no-fail policy in place.
This was revealed by the Union Education Ministry’s Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) report for 2022-23.
At the same time, the State’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) remained above 100 per cent, giving a clear indication that some underage or over-age or repeaters were enrolled at primary, upper primary, elementary and secondary classes.
According to the data, the overall student dropout rate at the secondary level stood at 8.8 per cent. Almost 10.9 per cent of boys had given up school education in the State as compared to 6.4 per cent of girls.
The dropout rate at the primary level, that is class 1-V, remained at 0.3 per cent with 0.7 per cent girl dropout cases with not a single boy dropping out. At the upper primary level (Class 6-8), the drop rate among boys was 1.7 per cent and girls were 2.1 with a total drop out of 1.9 per cent.
Further, the State’s Gross Enrolment Ratio - which compares the enrolment in a specific level of education to the population of the age group which is most age-appropriate for that level of education - remained higher across all classes except secondary level.
The data shows that Goa’s GER at the primary level stood at 123.7 per cent, 113.4 per cent at the upper primary level, 119.7 per cent at the elementary level, 107.9 per cent at the secondary and 95.8 per cent at the higher secondary classes.
“It may also be noted that GER greater than 100 per cent might indicate the presence of over- or under-age children in a particular level of education,” the report stated.
The GER ratio remained above 100 per cent when it comes to enrolment of both boys and girls; however, the girls have outnumbered boys here.
