Research Abstract Volume - XV (2012-13)

Abstract

Universalization of elementary education is dependent primarily on the twin processes of enrolment and retention. With sustained efforts through the interventions of SSA in the state, enrolment of all school age children is nearing its target. But still quite a large number of children in this age group are out of the ambits of the school and more than 95 percent of such children are those who prematurely dropped out of the school. In order to enhance the retention rate, several attempts have been made to estimate and locate the dropouts like the annual exercises for DISE and the Child Tracking System (CTS), an innovation in Odisha. The study of the movement of well defined cohorts of enrolled children in the hierarchy of grades/classes of the elementary school is considered as providing a relatively more accurate estimate of dropouts at the end of any particular grade or grades. This study, intended to estimate dropout rates following cohort analysis in selected sites, shall not only provide an accurate estimate of the dropouts and the reasons thereof, but also shall provide measures to validate the earlier estimates of the crude dropout rates.