According to the Annual State of Education Report, 2020, the school dropout rate in West Bengal declined from 3.3% to 1.5%.
The survey was conducted in 26 states and 4 Union Territories. It reached a total of 52,227 households and 59,251 children in the age group of 5-16 years, as well as teachers or headteachers from 8,963 government schools offering primary grades.
According to the report, the school dropout rate in West Bengal, which was earlier 3.3 percent, declined to 1.5 percent, while it went up from four percent to 5.5 percent at the national level. The dropout rate in some bigger states like Karnataka, Telangana, and Rajasthan was 11.3 percent, 14 percent, and 14.9 percent respectively.
According to the survey, the percentage of children, not enrolled in schools in 2018 was 2.0% (6-14 years old), 3.6% (7-16 years old), 1.1% (7-10 years old), 2.4% (11-14 years old) and 11.7 % (15-16 years old). There is a decline in the rate in 2020, with 0.6 % (6-14 years old), 1.6% (7-16 years old), 0.2% (7-10 years old), 1.0% (11-14 years old) and 6.2% (15-16 years old).
In a statement issued by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), ‘West Bengals initiative to continue education during the COVID-19 pandemic through digital and other electronic modes has also been acknowledged in the report’.
According to the survey, West Bengal also holds the first position in the country in terms of textbooks provided to the students with 99.7 percent coverage, while in bigger states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, the same stands at 79.6 percent, 60.4 percent, 95 percent, 34.6 percent, and 80.8 percent respectively, the statement said quoting the report.
ASER 2020 is the first-ever phone-based survey.
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