At a government-run school in Maninagar, Minister of State for Co-operation, Jagdish Vishwakarma, is leading the Kanya Kelavani-Shala Praveshotsav, a three-day statewide school enrolment drive.
Students of Classes 9-12 took part in a quiz where they were asked: “Fifty years back, an incident happened that was taken note of by the world, what was that?” “Bandharan Hatya Divas” (Constitution Assassination Day)”, a girl studying in Class 10 at Sri Ramkrishna Vidyalaya answered after two-three attempts by others. She got a silver idol of Lord Rama as a reward.
The annual drive, which kicked off on Thursday, sees the chief minister, ministers, state and district officials travelling to urban and rural areas to encourage parents to enrol their children in schools.
On Friday, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was at a government primary school in Gandhinagar’s Pundrasan village, where he urged parents to ensure enrolment of their children in schools and avail the benefits of government schemes.
When the drive started, Gujarat would record a nearly 40% drop-out rate in Classes 1-7. Launched by the then CM Narendra Modi, now the Prime Minister, in 2003-04, where his team of ministers and bureaucrats would lead enrolment drives in Class 1, the state’s flagship initiative has over the years incorporated a technology-driven tracking of children by assigning them a unique identity through the Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK). This year, it is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to “predict” drop-outs so that there could be specific interventions.
The objective of the drive is to ensure no child, who is eligible to go to school, is left out. The focus this year has gradually shifted from primary to secondary and higher secondary schools. However, the disproportionate number of secondary and higher schools available for children from the economically weaker sections becomes a deterrent. For instance, against the 32,000 primary schools run by the government or municipal bodies, there are just 6,100 government-run or grant-in-aid schools for secondary and higher secondary sections.
“The focus this year is enrolment in Classes 9 and 10. Among the three government schools to be visited by officials on each day of the drive, two are secondary and higher secondary schools and one is primary,” Principal Secretary, Education, Mukesh Kumar, told The Indian Express.
Story continues below this ad
As per the Education department records, the drop-out rate of Classes 9 and 10 was 21 per cent in 2023-24 against 23.8 per cent in 2018-19 — a decline of only 2.8 per cent in five years.
On Friday, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was at a government primary school in Gandhinagar’s Pundrasan village (Express)
The reasons range from availability of schools in the neighbourhood, especially in case of girls; parents migrating for work to other districts to children aiding the family income by engaging in skill-based labour.
“After this success (decline in drop out rate in primary classes and increase in enrollment), it was also very necessary to reduce the drop-out rate in Classes 8 and 9. That is why the state government is intensively mapping all students of Class 8 for them to get admission in Class 9 and Class 10 for Class 11 admission through the VSK. Efforts are being made to get all such students admitted in the nearest government or aided secondary schools,” the state government said in a statement issued this week.
The state government has set a target of getting 25.75 lakh students enrolled for the 2025-26 academic session. Of these, most (10.56 lakh) are eligible for admission in Class 9, 6.5 lakh for admission to Classes 10 and 11, and 8.75 lakh for admission in Class 1 and Balvatika (equivalent to nursery).
Story continues below this ad
Further, the Gujarat State Open School, an initiative to facilitate distance learning for secondary and higher secondary students, was revived this year and rules are being made “student-friendly”, government sources say. Children who dropped out after Class 8 are also being sought out and enrolled in Gujarat State Open School Board. Details of students enrolled in the Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) are also being integrated with VSK for tracking.
Using AI to predict and prevent
As per the state government records reiterated at every education programme and attributed as the “success” of Shala Praveshotsav, the drop-out rate in Classes 1 to 5 has declined from 20.93 per cent in 2001-02 to 1.07 per cent in 2023-24. Also, the drop-out rate in Classes 1 to 8 was 37.22 per cent in 2001-02, which came down to 2.42 per cent in 2023-24.
CM Bhupendra Patel with students at a school in Gandhinagar (Express)
However, as per the AI-enabled Early Warning System (EWS) data accessed by The Indian Express, the potential dropouts identified for Classes 1-8 for the current academic year is 1.67 lakh from 50.42 lakh — of which 55 per cent are likely to be girl students.
In its initial year, the data has been generated for Classes 1 to 8 which will be analysed and replicated for secondary and higher secondary classes, said government sources.
As a statewide EWS predictive data of possible drop-outs has been generated for the first time this year, Banaskantha has the highest number at nearly 18,000 students, including a higher percentage for girls — at 60%. With over 15,300 students, Kutch is also among the top districts with the highest number of students who are likely to drop out of school, followed by the tribal district of Dahod and Surat city with nearly 12,000 students each. Ahmedabad city stands at 7,200, Jamnagar has over 6,700, Surendranagar at nearly 6,400, Rajkot with over 5,600, Morbi at over 5,500, Bhavnagar at over 5,600 and Chhota Udepur has nearly 5,200 such students.
Story continues below this ad
This was based on data sets recorded by the VSK on parameters like students’ attendance, academic performance, behaviour patterns, economic background, migration, parents’ mindset, number of children in the family, population, etc.
Based on the AI-generated algorithm, such children are being monitored and before they drop-out, schools are informed so that authorities can take preventive actions.
“A sensible use of this data will help not only improve learning levels among children, but also their comprehensive growth. The VSK, which was started in Gujarat, has already been replicated in 17-18 states and funded by the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan,” Kumar told this paper.
‘Lack of transparency’
Experts and activists, however, question the lack of transparency in government records. Raising concerns, Sukhdev Patel an education activist from Ahmedabad, told this paper, “The exercise of Shala Praveshotsav seems like drawing a target around the arrow after it was shot. The enrolment data should be made public and the manner in which it has been arrived at.”
Story continues below this ad
Restructuring of School Management Committees
At the Pundrasan Government Primary school, CM Patel enrolled 197 children. He also appealed to the members of the School Management Committee to get more actively involved in the functioning of their respective schools.
From 2025-26, to ensure students are enrolled in their nearest government or grant-in-aid schools, primary school principals and CRC co-ordinators will be roped in (Express)
The SMCs were instituted in non-granted schools, as mandated by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), aimed at ensuring community participation in the governance and monitoring of elementary education. However, after it was revealed that a majority of such committees lie either only on paper or are defunct, the Gujarat government directed restructuring these decision-making bodies at government primary schools.
As per a Gujarat government notification from 2011, in a 12-member SMC, 75% members should comprise parents of students, with weightage to be given to the economically weaker sections. Among the rest of the members, one should be from the elected wing , one teacher, one person nominated by the parents. One of the objectives of the committee is to seek out eligible children and enrol them in schools from the villages and the neighbourhood.
On the reconstitution of SMCs, Principal Secretary Kumar said, “Till the time we don’t nudge them, how will they improve?”
Story continues below this ad
The first-ever restructuring of the SMCs across 32,800 government primary schools, since these were formed following the implementation of the Act in Gujarat, was followed by a virtual interaction between Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and the members of the SMC in April this year.
Hi-tech tools
To identify eligible children to be admitted in Class 1, data from the Health department from 2019 was integrated with the Education department’s Child Tracking System (CTS). Further, birth record data from 2023-24 is also used for enrolling children in Balvatika. The TeCHO (Technology for Community Health Operations) app used to track vaccination of children has also been integrated with the CTS application to create pre-enrollment data. These details are then shared along with contact details of parents to the respective schools.
VSK is also collecting details of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and of private pre-primary schools from 2023-24. This is used to identify children to be admitted in Balvatika and Class 1 and a list is prepared to ensure 100 per cent enrolment.
The annual drive, which kicked off on Thursday, sees the chief minister, ministers, state and district officials travelling to urban and rural areas to encourage parents to enrol their children in schools (Express)
From 2025-26, to ensure students are enrolled in their nearest government or grant-in-aid schools, primary school principals and CRC co-ordinators will be roped in.
Story continues below this ad
Socio-Economic Review 2023-24
The Socio-Economic Review (SER) 2023-24 revealed that the number of primary schools declined by 1,027 in the last five years — from 45,315 (including private schools) in 2019-20 to 44,288 in 2023-24. This reflected in the decline of 7.67 lakh in enrolment in Classes 1 to 8 in primary schools — from 86.14 lakh to 78.47 lakh.
While government primary schools in rural areas reportedly increased from 2,225 in 2019-20 to 2,310 in 2023-24, government or municipal bodies run schools in urban areas either closed or merged as they declined from 31,337 to 30,626 during this period.
On the other hand, the number of secondary and higher secondary schools increased during the same period, from 12,445 to 13,037, including around 6,100 run by government or grant-in-aid schools. This, however, resulted in a decline in the total enrolment — from 28.67 lakh in 2019-20 to 27.41 lakh in 2023-24. While the total number of secondary and higher secondary schools increased, the number of only-girls secondary and higher secondary schools decreased from 594 to 576 in the last five years.
Meanwhile, the drop-out rate in primary education in Gujarat from Class 1 to 5, which stood at 22.3 per cent in 1999-2000, was reduced to 1.04 per cent in 2022-23.
