UDISE+ 2024-25 data shows Jharkhand’s significant progress in reducing dropout rates, despite challenges in teacher recruitment and infrastructure.
The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2024-25 claims that Jharkhand has made dramatic progress in bringing down dropout rates to among the lowest in the country in just three years. In 2022-23, Jharkhand’s dropout rate was more than 11% for primary for boys as well as girls. In two years, rate has become zero for boys and girls.
In upper primary, it was more than 14% in 2022-23. In 2024-25, the dropout rate has come down to less than 2%. The most dramatic fall is however in secondary which used to hover above 25% and which has come down to some 3.5%.
In Kerala, known to be a topper in education performance, primary dropout rate is zero, upper primary is 1.7%, which is lower than Jharkhand, but in secondary, Jharkhand is doing better than Kerala by some 1.3 percentage points. Incidentally, Bihar has notched up a noteworthy performance in 2024-25.
Such improvements in dropout rates are usually accompanied by better student-teacher ratios, feeding programmes in schools that act as incentives for children not to drop out of school and so on. Jharkhand officials give full credit to special programs and statewide awareness and keenness by teachers and public school administration for the performance.
Pupil-teacher ratio
The UDISE+ 2024-25 say that for the first time since the beginning of UDISE+, the total number of teachers in Jharkhand has crossed the one crore mark in 2024–25. The increase in teacher numbers is a critical step toward improving student-teacher ratios, ensuring quality education, and addressing regional disparities in teacher availability. The numbers in this year’s UDISE+ report have been steadily increasing since 2022-23. Yet, despite new curriculum designs, teacher recruitment drives, and annual infrastructure checks, schools in the State still grapple with the persistence of the single-teacher concept, inadequate toilet and drinking water facilities, invisible boundary walls, lack of playgrounds, and the challenge of student migration.
A lower PTR allows teachers to provide more individual attention, mentorship, and support, fostering better learning outcomes. UDISE+ 2024–25 data shows that while the national average PTR stands at 20:1 for primary, 17:1 for upper primary, 15:1 for secondary, and 23:1 for higher secondary levels, Jharkhand reports significantly higher ratios of 26:1, 24:1, 30:1, and 47:1 respectively.
Experts recommend a PTR of 30:1 across all levels of schooling to ensure effective interactive learning. Jharkhand’s figures indicate that, particularly at the secondary and higher secondary levels, students face overcrowded classrooms, which will hinder teaching.
Gautam Kumar Sahu, District Superintendent of Education (DSE), Latehar, and Vinay Pathak, DSE, Giridih, discuss how government measures have impacted dropout rates. They are among the senior government officials responsible for overseeing and managing educational activities, policies, and development in a district, including supervising schools, teachers, and ensuring quality education delivery.
DSE Sahu of Latehar acknowledged that while dropout rates appear low, children often leave school seasonally to work with their families. He pointed to initiatives such as Prayas Karyakram and Siksha Saathi, which he said have helped bring students back to classrooms. “We motivate students to at least complete their schooling up to Class 10,” he said. “If a student does not come to school, it is the teacher’s responsibility as a model officer to personally approach the parents and ask the reasons for the child’s absence,” he added.
DSE Pathak acknowledged that migration, child labour, and single-teacher schools in Ranchi remain serious challenges. He added that many guardians prefer sending their children to English-medium or private schools. “We are trying hard to retain students and provide them with facilities like free textbooks, free uniforms and mid-day meals. Surveys are also being conducted regularly on their attendance” he said.
He further noted that in Latehar, a unique campaign called the Siti Bajao Abhiyan uses the sound of whistles to remind and encourage children to attend school.
At the granular level
When pressed further on the apparent miracle in Jharkhand dropout rates, Mr. Pathak responded, “I can compile my answers and share them with you on WhatsApp.” However, despite repeated messages, he did not reply until the time of writing this story.
Many BGVS workers, school teachers, retired teachers, and people associated with the Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC), a government organisation responsible for implementing various projects and initiatives related to education in the State, doubt the data. Vishwanathan Singh, State Secretary of the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), says many students don’t attend school so they can earn $500 a day. “They are marked present in the attendance register,” he adds.
This practice not only inflates the apparent strength of the school but also helps teachers safeguard their jobs, he explains. These falsified records are then included in the data compiled by JEPC and subsequently uploaded to the UDISE+ portal, shaping the picture of the State’s education position across India. “The actual dropout ratio is close to 30–40%,” Mr. Singh said, while discussing the deep-rooted problems in the State’s education system.
Prem Mohli, a BGVS worker in Dhumka, bluntly said, “This data is absolutely wrong” and mentioned that the statistics collected by the teachers and government surveyors fail to capture the struggles of children who are out of classrooms.
Mr. Sahu highlighted the Prayas Karyakram project’s guidelines to actively involve parents in their children’s schooling. Regular parent-teacher meetings are held where guardians are counselled and motivated to send their children to school. “That is why you must have seen good numbers in the dropout data,” he said.
State Project Director of JPEC, Shashi Ranjan, who oversees initiatives addressing dropouts, said there are a lot of back to school programmes. To make students comfortable in the school environment, the JEPC ensured that teachers communicate in the regional local language, he said.
Mr. Ranjan mentioned that around “7,000 schools in Jharkhand are single-teacher schools, and the recruitment process is still ongoing. We have already recruited 9,000 teachers and are ensuring that single-teacher schools are given priority. By this month, all single-teacher schools will be covered, and more teachers will be recruited.”
Vishwanath Singh pointed out that the RTE norms mandate ‘one teacher for each class,’ a requirement the Jharkhand government has consistently failed to meet. Instead, in many primary schools, a single teacher is appointed to handle Classes 1 to 5, which is a clear violation of the law.
According to Mr. Singh, a PIL had demanded the recruitment of 80,000 teachers across the state. However, the court only directed the government to appoint 26,000. In reality, just 13,000 teachers were eventually selected and posted, leaving a massive gap unaddressed. “There are currently no new teacher recruitments, and the concept of para-teachers has been discontinued. The government is also not outsourcing teaching through private agencies, as they were saying,” said Mr. Singh.
There have been several initiatives over the years, such as Teachers Learning Material, Teaching Learning Equipment, Operation Blackboard, and child-centred education programs – designed to encourage students to attend school. However, Mr. Singh noted that while these programs brought children to school, there was nothing in place to ensure they stayed; what was critically needed were teachers.
When we attempted to verify Mr. Singh’s claims with Dr. Natwa Hansda, Chairman of the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC), he abruptly ended the call upon learning that we were journalists from The Hindu.
On the issue of single-teacher schools, DSE Sahu said, “Single-teacher concept is nothing, where there is a single teacher in the school, it is a single-teacher concept.” He admitted that in Latehar alone, there are 150 such schools.
When asked whether a single teacher can realistically manage 50–60 students, he acknowledged that fresh recruitment drives have not taken place. “It is very human to think like that, but due to certain High Court policy reasons, recruitment is not happening,” he explained, adding that around 26,000 teachers have been appointed in the state so far. It is worth noting that Jharkhand has nearly 35,000 schools in total.
Persisting problem
The teacher shortage in Jharkhand is still a critical concern for the state’s education system. In June 2024, Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao heard a petition highlighting that over 8,000 government primary schools, nearly one-third of the state’s total, are managed by a single teacher, according to UDISE 2021–22 data. The petition further noted that Jharkhand has the worst teacher shortage among major states, with no recruitment conducted since 2016.
Based on these norms, Jharkhand requires approximately 100,000 primary school teachers, but the current strength stands at only 35,000, a shortfall of more than 60,000 educators at the primary level alone.
Prem Mohli also pointed out that even the most basic infrastructure required to run a school, such as playgrounds and boundary walls are missing in many institutions. Vishwanath Singh added that while the government allocates funds for libraries, most of them remain non-functional.
He explained that BGVS has often spoken directly with teachers, who complain of being overburdened with training sessions and qualification requirements imposed by the government. “Much of the teachers’ time is consumed in fulfilling these demands. The timetable and schedule designed for schools is often longer than the actual school hours,” Mr. Singh said, citing BGVS surveys in districts such as Dhanbad, Giridih, Palamu, Garhwa, and Khunti.
On the issue of infrastructure, the DSE Sahu said that facilities are largely available up to the secondary and higher secondary levels, with the district education office providing resources such as science labs, libraries, and AI labs through local funds. However, at the primary school level, infrastructure remains limited.
On the funds received by the state government, he said, “I think it’s okay. The government is doing enough for the students, they are providing free school kits, scholarships, and paying teachers’ salaries (which is 70-80 thousand plus increment).”
SPD Shashi Ranjan insisted on “providing the data” and transferred the call to Sachin Kumar, State MIS Coordinator, who is responsible for managing official data for UDISE+.
Mr. Kumar provided screenshots of the recent UDISE+ report for dropout rates and pupil-teacher ratios, and did not respond to our request for teacher recruitment data.
In a 30-minute phone conversation, SPD Shashi Ranjan mentioned that the funds allocated for infrastructure repairs are insufficient and constrained. He stated that schools generally have toilet and water facilities, and emphasised that the teacher recruitment drive is progressing in full swing, there are updated curriculums as per NEP 2020, and creative leaning, conceptual and logical learnings has been included.
According to him, several policies have been implemented to support school integration, mid-day meals are functioning well and are adequately funded for classes 1 to 8, and measures are in place to improve student transition and reduce dropout rates. He specifically added, “With our policies, we try to ensure that a student stays in school till the 12th grade.”
(Mantasha Ahmed is an independent journalist exploring the intersections of education, civil rights, social issues, and culture. Nibedita Sen is an independent journalist specialising in defence, accredited by the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, with over 15 years of experience covering diverse topics like rural India, healthcare, education, and women’s issues.)
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