While the Rajasthan government recently launched 'pravesho utsav', a programme to increase enrollment in primary schools, official records suggest that more than 16,000 primary school students have dropped out in Jaisalmer district.
Pratap Singh Kaswan, Jaisalmer district education officer (primary) confirmed the report, saying that the number of students in primary schools had reduced by 16,250.
Under the 'pravesho utsav' initiative, the State education department had set targets for district authorities to achieve 10% increase in enrollment in primary schools over the previous year. Though Jaisalmer district authorities claimed that they had achieved the target, education department officials were surprised during the final compilation of data. They found that instead of an increase in enrollment, the number of students had decreased by more than 20%.
Following the report, state education department officials who feared that these children have quit studying altogether, directed the district authorities to find out the cause for dropout on such a large scale.
"I have issued showcause notices to block education officers in the three blocks and have asked them to find out the reason behind the decrease in enrollment," Kaswan told the Hindustan Times.
A recent report of the District Information System for School Education puts the dropout rate among girls at the primary level at 8.39%, as compared to 7.76% in boys.
