Dropout rate of girl students jumps to 16.6 in 2019-20 in JK: Ministry of Education

New Delhi, Jul 29: The Ministry of Education Thursday informed that the dropout rates of girl students in the secondary and elementary education levels have jumped to 16.6 and 3.7 percent in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2019 to 2020.
The Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan was replying to queries raised in the Rajya Sabha regarding the dropout rates of girls in secondary and elementary education levels from 2016 to the present.
In a written reply to the house the Minister of Education in written reply said that the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education is implementing the scheme of Samagra Shiksha. “Under Samagra Shiksha, there are various initiatives for promotion of girl’s education which include opening of schools in the neighbourhood to make access easier for girls, additional teachers and residential quarters for teaching staff in remote/hilly areas, appointment of additional teachers including women teachers, free textbooks, free uniforms, and separate toilets for girls, teachers’ sensitization programmes to promote girls participation, gender-sensitive teaching-learning materials including textbooks etc”, reads the reply.
It reads that additionally, special state specific projects such as Life Skills, Awareness programmes, providing incinerators, Sanitary Pad Vending Machines etc, for varied interventions under equity are also emphasized under the scheme for enhancing access, retention and quality for girls by promoting enrolment drives, retention and motivation camps, gender sensitization modules etc.
“To promote education of girls in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), DoSEL has sanctioned Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) in EBBs which are residential schools from class VI to XII for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families”, the reply states.
The reply further reads that in order to mitigate the impact of challenges thrown by the COVID-19 pandemic for school children including girls and for preventing dropouts, lower enrolments and loss of learning, instructions and guidelines have been issued by Ministry of Education to the States & UTs from time to time for continuing education of children including girls. “The States and UTs have also been suggested steps/actions such as identification of out of school children from age 6 to 18 years, enrolment drives and awareness generation, student support while schools are closed, continued education for Children with Special Needs (CwSN) etc., to be taken during the school closure and when the schools re-open”, the reply reads.
About figures of Jammu and Kashmir, the dropout rate in the year 2016-17 it said was 13.9 of elementary and 25.5 in the secondary level.
Between the years 2017-19, it said that the dropout rate of girl students was 1.6 in elementary and 2.5 in secondary level, and 6.9 and 17.7 at an elementary and secondary level between the years 2018-19.
The figures reveal that the dropout in the year 2019-2020 had jumped to 3.7 in the elementary level and 16.6 in the secondary level in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. (KNO)