Bhubaneswar: The UDISE+ report released by Union Education Ministry draws out a disturbing graph on the board for Odisha. 

As per the UDISE+ 2023-24 report released very recently, the enrolment in govt secondary schools sees a sharp drop. Secondary education is vital for employability. Moreover, the report also flags how in the concept of digital schools and smart classroom, the State stood lagging with states like Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

DROP IN SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLMENT 

The report counts the total enrolment in all types of government schools at over 52.09 lakh. Detailing the level wise enrolment, the report outlines the following.

• Enrolment in Foundational classes (Preschool to Class 2) – over 9.98 lakh.
• Enrolment in Preparatory classes (Classes 3-5) – over 16.4 lakh
• Enrolment in middle classes (classes  6-8) – over 16.8 lakh
• Enrolment in secondary classes (class 9-12^th) – over 8.79 lakh

A glance at the above data leads to following conclusions.

• In Odisha, households give less preference to pre-school education, even in govt schools.
• This is evident from the rise in enrolment for classes 3 to 8.
• What looks very disturbing has been, the enrolment in the vital secondary education posted sharp drop.
• Over 47% of the students in govt middle schools drop out from secondary education.

A COMPARISON WITH PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN ODISHA

When it comes to school education, private sector in Odisha has a major role, but was not the dominant mode for imparting education in the State. The UDISE report puts the total enrolment in private schools in the State at over 14.8 lakh.  The details counts given below.

• Pre-school – over 3.38 lakh
• Class 3-5 – over 3.89 lakh
• Class 6-8 – over 3.07 lakh
• Class 9-12 – over 4.47 lakh.

The above data has the following inferences.

A glance shows a spike in enrolment for classes 9-12 in private schools. And the private sector is adding new students when it comes to secondary classes; whereas in govt schools they record a huge drop out.

GOVT-AIDED SCHOOLS CLAIMS TROPHY IN SEC EDU

The Ministry of Education report brings to fore the following trend.

In govt aided schools, the total enrolment in the year 2023-24 stood at 0ver 9.7 lakh. Of which, 

• Pre-school – 10,602
• Class 3-5 – 16,860
• Class 6-8 – 1,27,989
• Class 9-12 – 8, 15,308 (over 8 lakh)

The above numbers tell the following tale.

• Households in Odisha prefer to govt school up to middle school (enrolment in govt schools show rising trend)
• However, when joining classes 9-12^th comes into picture, data shows a large chunk of govt secondary school students shift to govt aided and private schools.
• The preference of households shows a clear leaning towards govt-aided secondary schools. 
• The enrolment for secondary education in govt aided schools sports a big jump to over 8.5lakh, when the enrolment up to class 8 was mere 1.27 lakh.
• The upswing has mainly come from students switching over to govt aided schools from govt schools.

The main reason behind dropping out of govt secondary schools have been attributed to poor results in the matric exam over the years.

In comparison, in states like Delhi, Goa and Andhra Pradesh, the govt secondary schools record higher enrolment in class 9-12, unlike Odisha. See the table below.

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