Bengaluru Urban sees maximum dropouts in Karnataka, Udupi least

BENGALURU: In Karnataka, government schools in Bengaluru Urban have witnessed the maximum dropouts since 2017, reveal records available with the education department.

Of the 82,000 school dropouts registered in different educational districts across the state in the past two years, nearly 28,000 are from Bengaluru South and North education districts.

While 17, 875 students from Class 1 to 9 dropped out of schools in Bengaluru South over the past two years; Bengaluru North registered 10,411 out-of-school children during the same period.Across the state, 82,221 students quit their studies since 2017.
In rural areas, the situation seems better. While only 200 students dropped out of school in Udupi district, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Uttara Kannada and Madhugiri districts saw just 323, 340, 360 and 436 dropouts, respectively. In Bengaluru Rural district, 941 students quit studies midway before reaching Class 10.
Experts attributed this to factors like migration, failure in classes 8 and 9 and closure of government schools in cities.
“Many migrant workers keep relocating, which affects their children’s studies. Also, they lack awareness about the importance of education and many of them force their children to engage in labour at an early age. Lack of government schools with proper facilities is another reason which results in many children staying out of school. Various schemes have failed to check dropout rates in Karnataka,” said child rights activist Nagasimha G Rao.
Basavraj Gurikar, vice president, All India Primary Teachers Association, said: “Of late, parents from smaller towns like Udupi are more concerned about their children’s education whereas in Bengaluru, mostly children of migrant workers study in government schools. They drop out as and when their parents shift to another place in search of a better wages.”
An education department official said the rates also depend on the size of the district and the number of students enrolled in that particular region. “We can’t say in general that more children quit studies midway in urban areas than in rural areas.”