Latest UNESCO report shows 47 million youth in India drop out of school by class X.

According to a recent UNESCO Institute for Statistics and Global Education 2016 report, 47 million Indian youth have dropped out of school by class X.

This is a very big number and indicates a significant leak in terms of enrolments between secondary school and higher secondary school. The figures speak for themselves – Class X enrolment figures stand at 77% while enrolment in class XI stands at only 52% says a report from the New Delhi-based Institute for Policy Research Studies (PRS).

However, there is good news as well, as revealed by the rising gross enrolment ratio (GER is the ratio of student enrolment to the corresponding eligible age group in a given year) at almost every level of education in India. This definitely means that the educational system has become more accessible for most. Interestingly, this can be credited to the Right to Education, RTE Act. The increased accessibility is indicated by an increase of GER for upper primary and secondary schools by 13% and 17%, respectively, in 2013-14 compared to 2007-08.

Despite these encouraging figures almost 6 million children between the ages of 6-13 are still out of the school system, according to a 2014 survey by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

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Uttar Pradesh holds the dubious distinction of having the most out-of-school children at 1.6 million, followed by Bihar and Rajasthan.

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