Riyaz Bhat
Srinagar, Feb 14: With nearly 28 percent of students in Jammu and Kashmir failing to transition from secondary to higher secondary level, the retention rate post 8th standard poses a real challenge for the School Education Department in ensuring the consistency of the learners.
According to the official figures available, the transition rates have improved significantly with 94.8 percent transition from primary to upper primary and 90.7 percent from elementary to secondary levels.
The documents further reveal that the J&K was facing a transition rate of 72.9 percent from secondary to higher secondary and Gross Access Ratio remains above 98 percent across stages.
Besides, the figures further reveal that literacy has improved significantly from 11.03 percent in 1961 to 68.74 percent in 2011.
“Gender inclusion has strengthened, with the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of girls exceeding overall averages at 114.5 at primary, 80.0 at upper primary, and 67.5 at secondary levels in 2024–25, reflecting the success of initiatives like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao,” it reads.
The official figures further state that the dropout rates have declined sharply to 1.5 percent at primary, 3.2 percent at upper primary, and 12.9 percent at secondary levels.
Meanwhile, teachers in the schools told KNO that there could be various reasons for the transition rate of students from secondary to senior secondary in Jammu and Kashmir.
One of the teachers said, “There can be various reasons for the dropout rate among the students of elementary and secondary levels. Mostly, the students come from financially unstable families and quit studies midway.”
“Nowadays, many students are either seen quitting studies midway either to earn for their families or are setting-up their own businesses. Some students don’t want to be regular in class but continue their studies simultaneously while working,” said another teacher.
“There are a number of Out of School Children (OoSC) in JK. The students from nomad tribes also give less preference to the studies,” the teacher said.
Pertinently, the government in 2025 had said that, “About 46,000 Out of School Children (OoSC) have been mainstreamed”.
