The Assam government’s decision to constitute a ded-icated team to conduct a detailed study of the prob-lem of high dropout rates among high school students in the state is a timely intervention. Most school dropouts become low-wage, unskilled workers and add to the ever-increasing list of unemployed, as they lack wage negotiation skills due to a low level of education. The study team has been mandated to recommend a targeted and incentive-based scheme to curb dropouts. Improving the overall teaching and learning environment and ensuring that it is accommodative to students from different socio-economic backgrounds is critical to make the students, who run the risk of discontinuing education for a variety of reasons, realise the importance of education to pursue better career goals in life. Integration of vocational education with mainstream education as prescribed in the National Education Policy 2020 provides a solution to the problem. However, the process of schools being equipped with skill laboratories and classes being conducted in collaboration with skill training institutes, such as industrial training institutes, as envisaged in NEP 2020, has yet to gather momentum. Teachers, being equipped with necessary skills and knowledge to integrate vocational education with mainstream curriculum requires extensive training, need a policy push for implementation. The challenge is to make the classroom of vocational and skill education at the middle stage interesting for students, as a dull teaching and learning ecosystem makes it difficult for some students to concentrate and learn. Imparting training to teachers on innovative pedagogical approaches is essential to make mainstreaming of vocational education enjoyable for students and boost confidence in them to learn some skills at school level to find better livelihood opportunities after completion of school years. Rationalization of the teacher-pupil ratio plays a crucial role in such transformation. With over 3,000 schools in the state still having a single teacher, integration of vocational education with mainstream curriculum in those schools is a monumental task and requires drastic systemic changes and faster completion of the rationalization process. Mere improvement of infrastructure and establishment of skill labs in such schools will not be able to prevent dropouts, as it is not possible for a single teacher to impart quality education. Undue interference by teachers’ bodies in initiatives taken by the Education Department to rationalize the teacher-pupil ratio is uncalled for and must be resisted, as such interference harms the interests of students when the government is unable to transfer excess teachers from schools with no fewer students to a single teacher or schools with fewer teachers. The study team looking into technology-based solutions to predict potential dropouts in schools can lead to a pragmatic recommendation in addressing the problem. The Gujarat Education Department has been making use of an artificial intelligence-driven early warning system that tracks attendance, performance, and assessment reports of every student in the class 1 to 8 group and predicts potential dropout cases, which helps schools to take timely preventive action to prevent the students at risk of discontinuing education, which includes counselling with their parents and increasing attention to such students in classrooms. The AI-driven system in Gujarat can provide a cue to the study team of possible technology-based solutions in Assam for preventing action. Some of the interventions, like midday meals, the Nijut Moina scheme, and the free distribution of uniforms, textbooks, and bicycles, have significantly improved enrolment and attendance, but there is no room for complacency, as every enrolled student completing school is vital for the state to create a pool of educated and skilled human resources for strengthening the state economy and reaping the demographic dividend. Renovation of government school buildings and equipping those with smart classrooms are laudable initiatives to improve the learning ecosystem, but availability of adequate funds and timely and judicious utilization are essential to bring every government school under such transformation. The introduction of indigenous languages at the foundation level in the state is a trailblazing initiative by the state government to improve the learning capabilities of students belonging to different linguistic indigenous communities, which boosts their confidence level in learning in the higher levels. Geographical distribution of schools also plays a crucial role in access to quality education and the issue of uniformity in school density or lack of it, difficult geographic terrain, and posing a barrier in the improvement of teaching and learning. Ecosystem needs the attention of policymakers so that initiatives aimed at curbing dropout can transform the entire school landscape and leave no geographical area deprived of it. Intended transformation is not possible without active participation of the parents and the communities they belong to. Prevention of school dropout, therefore, cannot be an isolated academic-administrative exercise to be implemented by the education department but must be a collaborative initiative of the government and the society, with students, teachers and parents being central to any transformative changes. The alarm bell on school dropout has already been sounded. The challenge is to take action to prevent it urgently.