18,000 Students Dropout From Odisha Annual Matriculation Exam

A troubling trend regarding dropout at the secondary education level has sent bells ringing in Odisha. At least 18,000 students in the state are missing out on the Summative-II matriculation examination, which began on March 10. According to a report by Hindustan Times, for the summative-I exam held in November last year, 14,000 candidates were no-shows.

The number of dropouts increasing by 4,000 in a single academic year is a great cause for worry. This increase may mark a break from the progress recently made in bringing down the number of students who did not attend the exam despite registering. In 2022, a whopping 44,000 pupils did not write the test.

The secondary school dropout rate in Odisha, which stood at 16.06 per cent in 2020-21 has risen to 27.2 percent in 2021-22. This is over double the national average for the previous academic year (12.6 percent).

School and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash attributed the fall in matriculation exam turnout to waived examination fees. “When a student fills up the form after making payment of the examination fees, he would feel compelled to appear at the examination. Since the government has waived the fees this year, it is obvious that the student would not find it compelling to appear at the examination and may drop out of it,” he said. A total of 5,41,247 students filled up the forms to appear for the examination in Odisha this year.

“I don’t know the exact number of dropout students and will make queries about it after the examination is over. The department will take up the matter seriously and ascertain the causes responsible for it,” he added.

There is another worrisome pattern that dropout statistics clearly point towards. These rates are higher among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In the academic year 2020-21, more than 49,000 students dropped out even before entering the higher secondary level. Of these, 15,792 students belonged to the tribal category. Another 11,045 students were from the SC category.

This year, too, the largest number of dropouts– 1,199 students– have come from the tribal-dominated Bolangir district. Coastal Balasore saw 1,158 dropouts. Similarly, 500 students each from Open School and for the Madhyama examination remained absent for the test. Last year, the state government announced the upgradation of 100 high schools in the 2023-24 academic year to check the high dropout rate in Odisha.

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