Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The education system in the state remains a matter of concern as the latest Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE+) 2025-26 report indicates that Assam continues to lag behind the national average in dropout, retention, promotion and higher secondary enrolment.
The report indicates that the most critical challenge lies at the Secondary stage (Classes IX-X), where student dropout remains significantly higher than the national average. The dropout rate at the Secondary level in Assam is 14.3%, whereas the national average stands at 9.5%.
The secondary dropout rate is particularly alarming, with nearly one in every seven students leaving school before completing Class X. Assam's rate is 4.8 percentage points higher than the national average.
Gender-wise, boys recorded slightly higher dropout rates than girls across all levels. At the secondary stage, the dropout rate stood at 14.7% for boys and 13.9% for girls.
Assam recorded higher dropout rates than the national average at every school stage: At the Primary level (Classes I-V), Assam's dropout rate is 1.4%, compared to India's 0.3%; at the Upper Primary (Classes VI-VIII) level, Assam's dropout rate is 4.3%, while the national average is 3.6%.
At the Primary and Upper Primary levels, the dropout rate among boys in the state is more than that of girls. The dropout rate for boys at the Primary level is 1.7%, while that for girls is 1.0%. At the Upper Primary level, the dropout rate for boys is 5.3% and that of girls is 3.4%.
While the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) shows that Assam performs well at the entry level, the state loses momentum in higher classes. The GER for Primary level in Assam is 106.4%, and for India it is 89.4%. The GER for the Upper Primary level in Assam is 92.8%, compared to 89.6% across India. At the Elementary level, Assam's GER is 101% and India's is 89.5%. The GER at the Secondary level in Assam is 85.0%, while India's is 81.5%. For the Higher Secondary level, Assam's GER is 45.1%, while it is 61.7% across the country.
The report also highlights weaker student retention compared with the national average. Student retention at the Primary level in Assam is 79.5%, while across India it is 91.1%; at the Elementary level, Assam's retention is 64.1%, compared to India's 83.7%; at the Secondary level, retention in Assam is 49.6% versus India's 69.8%; at the Higher Secondary level, Assam's student retention is 30.1%, compared to 51.9 in the country.
According to the report, transition is strong at lower levels but weakens after Class VIII. Assam performs better than the national average in the transition from primary to upper primary education, with Assam standing at 89.1%, compared to 93.8% across India; from Upper Primary to Secondary: Assam 83.8%, India 88.3%; from Secondary to Higher Secondary, Assam's transition stands at 53.7%, while across India, it is 78.1%.
The figures indicate that while almost all children move from primary to upper primary school, a significant number fail to continue after Class VIII and especially after Class X.
Promotion rates in Assam remain below the national average across all school stages, with the widest gap at the secondary level. For the Primary level, Assam's promotion rate is 93.9%, while across India it is 97.6%; at Upper Primary level Assam's rate is 91.7% and India's 95.0%.
However, at the Secondary level Assam's promotion rate is 68.4%, compared to India's 85.3%. At the secondary stage, Assam trails the national average by 16.9 percentage points, making it one of the weakest indicators in the state's school education performance.
The UDISE+ 2025-26 data suggests that Assam has made significant progress in ensuring access to elementary education, with high enrolment and near-universal transition from primary to upper primary. However, the state's greatest challenge remains keeping students in school beyond Class VIII and especially after Class X.
The combination of higher dropout rates, lower retention, weaker promotion rates and a sharp decline in higher secondary enrolment indicates that strengthening secondary and higher secondary education will be crucial for improving Assam's overall educational outcomes.
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