Chennai, Oct 29 (IANS) Tamil Nadu has recorded a sharp increase in school dropout rates across all three key stages—primary (Classes 1–5), upper primary (6–8), and secondary (9–10)—for the academic year 2024–25, according to the latest Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data released by the Union Ministry of Education on Tuesday.

For a state long regarded as one of India’s best performers in school retention, the new data has caused widespread concern. Dropout rates at the primary and upper primary levels have climbed from 0% last year to 2.7% and 2.8%, respectively—the highest in the past five years.

At the secondary level, the rate rose from 7.7% in 2023–24 to 8.5% this year. Officials in the School Education Department said they would respond after reviewing the report in detail.

The figures mark a dramatic reversal for Tamil Nadu, which now trails its southern peers in primary education—Kerala (0.8%), Karnataka (0%), Andhra Pradesh (1.4%), and Telangana (0%) all perform better.

Nationally, Tamil Nadu ranks ninth from the bottom, far behind the average primary dropout rate of 0.3%. However, it continues to fare better than the national averages in upper primary (3.5%) and secondary (11.5%) categories.

The data also point to a worrying trend of declining enrolment in government and aided schools and a corresponding rise in private school admissions.

Enrolment in Class 1 at government schools fell from 2.8 lakh in 2023–24 to 2.7 lakh this year, while government-aided schools saw a drop from 97,692 to 91,694. In contrast, private schools registered an increase, with Class 1 admissions rising from 5.17 lakh to 5.62 lakh.

Tamil Nadu currently has 57,935 schools catering to 1.25 crore students and employing 5.49 lakh teachers. The pupil-teacher ratio improved slightly from 24 to 23, but the number of single-teacher schools rose sharply from 2,758 to 3,671, serving over 95,000 students. While the UDISE+ report noted that nearly 98% of government schools have functional toilets, activists argue that infrastructure alone cannot stem dropout rates.

–IANS

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