Proportion of out-of-school Girls Falls to Record 2% in 2022: ASER

The girls dropout ratio in India has come down to an all-time low of two per cent in 2022. This information has been given in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022 released on Wednesday. The report also states that despite the overall decline, more than 10 percent of girls are not attending school in three states, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which is a matter of concern. The overall proportion of girls out of school was 4.1 per cent in 2018 and 10.3 per cent in 2006.

The latest study surveyed a total of 19,060 villages in rural India covering 3,74,544 households and 6,99,597 children aged three to 16 years. According to the report, school enrollment figures reached a record high of over 98 per cent, despite being closed for a long time during the pandemic. The report states that the major change during this period is the increasing number of children enrolled in government schools.

It states, ‘The enrollment rate for the six to 14 age group has been above 95 per cent for the past 15 years. These figures have increased from 97.2 percent in 2018 to 98.4 percent in 2022, despite school closures during the pandemic. According to the report, the reading ability of school students in all classes has fallen to pre-2012 levels, while basic math skills have fallen to 2018 levels.

This shows that most states can see a decline in government and private schools for both boys and girls. According to the report, states like Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana have seen the biggest decline in reading ability, while the decline in math skills has been seen in Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Haryana.

The report also noted that despite the overall decline, three states — Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — were a cause of concern with over 10 per cent girls out of school. The overall proportion of out-of-school girls was 4.1 per cent in 2018 and 10.3 per cent in 2006.

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