18000 students give a miss to Odisha matriculation exam amid rising dropout rate

Reports of a concerning trend in secondary education dropout rates have surfaced in Odisha, India. The Summative-II matriculation examination, which began on March 10, has seen a significant number of students not attending, with an estimated 18,000 pupils missing out on the test. This is an increase from the previous year's Summative-I exam in November, where 14,000 students did not show up. This 4,000 increase in a single academic year is worrying and could potentially undermine the progress made in reducing the number of no-shows.

The dropout rate in Odisha has risen sharply from 16.06% in the 2020-21 academic year to 27.2% in 2021-22, more than double the national average for the previous academic year (12.6%). This increase is alarming, and officials are investigating the reasons behind this surge.

Samir Ranjan Dash, the school and mass education minister, has attributed the fall in exam turnout to the waived examination fees. He believes that students who have not paid the fees may not feel compelled to take the exam, resulting in a rise in dropouts. This year, 5,41,247 students filled out forms to take the exam in Odisha, but the exact number of dropouts is yet to be determined.

The data also highlights a worrying pattern, with higher dropout rates among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In the 2020-21 academic year, over 49,000 students dropped out before entering the higher secondary level, with 15,792 belonging to the tribal category and 11,045 from the SC category. This year, 1,199 students from the tribal-dominated Bolangir district and 1,158 students from coastal Balasore have dropped out.

Last year, the state government announced the upgradation of 100 high schools in the 2023-24 academic year to address the high dropout rate in Odisha.