Based on the media reports, it has come to the notice of the Ministry that the Minister of School and Mass Education, Government of Odisha made a statement in the assembly denying the high rate of Drop out in Odisha (27.3%) and stating that report of UDISE+ is not reliable and trustworthy.

It is clarified that Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data is not only reliable but the only pan India and most trusted database in school education in the country. UDISE+ is one of the largest Management Information System initiated by Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education, Government of India covering more than 14.89 lakh schools, 95 lakhs teachers and 26.5 crore students.

It is informed that the Head Teacher/ Head Master of the school in all the States compiles the data and it goes through 3 stage validation/ verification process viz., Block/ Cluster level, District level and State level. This data is finally certified by State Project Director (SPD) at the State level. The data once certified by SPD of the respective State is considered as approved by the State. Therefore, data is entered in UDISE+ portal by the respective State itself.

UDISE+ truly represents one Nation one data base in respect of School Education in the country. UDISE+ is an online portal facility created by DoSEL for record of data related schools, teachers, enrolment, infrastructure etc. in respect of all recognized schools in the country. In UDISE+ school wise data is captured through Data Capture Format (DCF). Each school has been provided with login ID and password for facilitating online data compilation by respective schools.

According to UDISE+ 2020-21, Odisha has reported a total of 21.42 lakh students in Upper Primary and 13.25 lakh students in Secondary. Similarly, in 2021-22, the same in respect of Upper Primary was 20.72 lakh and 12.46 lakh at Secondary. Therefore, there is a clear decline of enrolment across both levels in Odisha.

As per the data reported by Government of Odisha in UDISE+ portal, the class wise details of enrolment in 2020-21 and 2021-22 are as under:

1. In 2020-21, of the total 7.58 lakh students in class 8, only 6.27 lakh students transited to class 9 in 2021-22 showing a net decline of 1.32 lakh students or 17.3%.
2. In 2020-21, of the total 6.40 lakh students in class 9, only 6.19 lakh students transited to class 10 in 2021-22 showing a net decline of 0.2 lakh students or 3.1%.
3. In 2020-21, of the total 6.86 lakh students in class 10, only 3.43 lakh students transited to class 11 in 2021-22 showing a net decline of 3.42 lakh students or 49.9%.
4. In 2020-21, of the total 3.66 lakh students in class 11, only 3.46 lakh students transited to class 12 in 2021-22 showing a net decline of 0.19 lakh students or 5.2%.

Therefore, UDISE+ data clearly reflects that enrolment and students transiting from Class 8 to 9, Class 9 to 10, Class 10 to 11 and Class 11 to 12 have declined indicating a large number of students are dropping out at the transition of Upper Primary to Secondary level and subsequently to Higher Secondary level.

Table for Gender Wise Drop Out rate of India, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh at Upper Primary and Secondary level in Percentage (%)

UDISE+ 2021-22 data also shows that Drop Out rate at Upper Primary level in Odisha is 7.3% and at the Secondary level it is 27.3% as against the National Average of 3% and 12.6% respectively. Further, it is to be noted that the dropout rate for girls at upper primary level is 6.5% and secondary level is 25% as against the national average of 3.3% and 12.3% respectively.

It is also informed that as per UDISE+ 2021-22 report, the Drop Out rate of students in Uttar Pradesh at Upper Primary level was 2.9% and at the Secondary level 9.7% respectively.

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