Integrated District Information System (UDISE+) for education 2024-25 claims that Jharkhand has made dramatic progress in bringing dropout rates to the lowest in the country in just three years. In 2022–23, Jharkhand’s dropout rate was more than 11% for boys as well as primary for girls. In two years, the rate for boys and girls is zero.
In upper primary, it was more than 14% in 2022–23. In 2024–25, the dropout rate is reduced by 2%. The most dramatic decline is however in secondary that looked over 25% and has come down to 3.5%.
In Kerala, education is known as a topper in the performance of education, the primary dropout rate is zero, the upper primary is 1.7%, less than Jharkhand, but in secondary, Jharkhand is doing some 1.3 percentage points from Kerala. Incidentally, Bihar has performed remarkable in 2024–25.
Such improvements in dropout rates are usually with better student-teacher ratio, feeding programs in schools that act as an incentive for children and do not get out of school and so on. Officials of Jharkhand give full credit for special programs and statewide awareness and curiosity by teachers and public school administration for demonstration.
Pupil-teacher ratio
Udise+ 2024-25 says that for the first time after the introduction of Udise+, the total number of teachers in Jharkhand has crossed the mark of one crore in 2024-25. Increase in teacher number is an important step towards improving student-teacher ratio, ensuring quality education and addressing regional inequalities in teacher availability. The number in this year’s Udise+ report has been increasing continuously since 2022-23. Nevertheless, despite the investigation of new course design, teacher recruitment drive, and annual infrastructure, state schools still struggle with single-teacher concept, insufficient toilets and drinking water facilities, invisible boundary walls, shortage of playgrounds and student migrations.
A low PTR allows teachers to promote better learning results, provide more personal attention, mentorship and support. Udise+ 2024–25 data shows that while the national average PTR for primary 20: 1, 17: 1 for upper primary, 15: 1 for secondary, and 23: 1 for higher secondary levels, Jharkhand reports 26: 1, 24: 1, 30: 1, and 47: 1 respectively.
Experts recommend PTR 30: 1 at all levels of school education to ensure effective interactive learning. Statistics in Jharkhand show that, especially at secondary and higher secondary levels, students face congested classes, which will obstruct teaching.
Gautam Kumar Sahu, District Superintendent Education (DSE), Lathar, and Vinay Pathak, DSE, Giridih, discuss how government measures have affected dropout rates. He is one of the senior government officials responsible for overseeing and managing educational activities, policies and development in a district, including monitoring schools, teachers and ensuring quality education distribution.
Lathar’s DSE Sahu admitted that while the dropout rate appears low, children often leave school to work with their families. He pointed to initiatives like Prayas Kayakaram and Sikh Saathi, in which he said that it has helped to bring students back into classes. “We inspire students to complete their schooling at least up to class 10,” he said. “If a student does not come to school, it is the responsibility of the teacher as a model officer who personally contacts the parents and asks the reasons for the child’s absence,” he said.
DSE Pathak admitted that migration, child labor and single-teacher schools in Ranchi are serious challenges. He said that many parents prefer to send their children to English-medium or private schools. “We are working hard to maintain students and provide them with facilities like free textbooks, free uniforms and mid-day meals. Surveys are also being conducted regularly on their presence”.
He further stated that in Lathar, a unique campaign called The Siti Bajao campaign uses a whistle to remind children to go to school and encourage children to go to school.
Granular level
When the Jharkhand dropout rates were further pressed on the clear miracle, Mr. Pathak replied, “I can compile my answers and share them with you on WhatsApp.” However, despite repeated messages, he did not respond until the time of writing this story.
Many BGVS workers, school teachers, retired teachers, and people associated with Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC), a government organization that is responsible for implementing various projects and initiatives related to education in the state, doubts data. Bharat Gyan Vigyan Committee (BGVS) State Secretary Vishwanathan Singh says that many students do not go to school so that they can earn $ 500 per day. “They are present in the attendance register,” they say.
This practice not only enhances the clear strength of the school, but also helps teachers to protect their jobs, they explain. These incorrect records are then included in the data compiled by JEPC and later uploaded on the UDISE+ portal, which shapes the picture of the state of state across India. Discussing deep root problems in the state’s education system, Mr. Singh said, “The actual dropout ratio is close to 30-40%.”
A BGVS activist Prem Mohli at Dhumka clearly stated, “This data is absolutely wrong” and mentioned that the data collected by teachers and government surveyors fail to catch the struggles of children who are out of classrooms.
Mr. Sahu highlighted the guidelines of the prayer Kayakaram project to actively involve parents in his children’s schooling. Regular parents-teacher meetings are held, where parents are advised and motivated to send their children to school. “That’s why you may have seen a good number in dropout data,” he said.
JPEC’s State Project Director, Shashi Ranjan, who oversees the initiative addressing a dropout, said a lot has come back in school programs. To make the students comfortable in the school environment, JEPC ensured that the teachers communicate in the regional local language, he said.
Shri Ranjan mentioned that “there are about 7,000 school single-teacher schools in Jharkhand, and the recruitment process is still going on. 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 said that the RTE criteria is given a teacher ‘mandate for each class,’ a requirement that the Jharkhand government has failed to meet continuously. Instead, in many primary schools, a single teacher is appointed to handle class 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 directed only the government to appoint 26,000. In fact, only 13,000 teachers were eventually chosen and posted, leaving a large difference. “Currently no new teacher is recruitment, and the concept of para-teachers has been discontinued. The government is also not outsourcing teaching through private agencies, as he was saying,” said Mr. Singh.
Many initiatives have been taken over the years, such as teachers learning materials, teaching teaching equipment, operation blackboard, and hair -centric education programs – designed to encourage students to go to school. However, Mr. Singh said that when these programs brought the children to school, there was nothing to ensure that they stayed; Whatever was seriously needed was a teacher.
When we we President of Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC), Dr. When Natwa tried to verify Shri Singh’s claims with Hansda, he suddenly asked to know that we were a Hindu journalist.
On the issue of single-teacher schools, DSE Sahu said, “The single-teacher concept is nothing where the school has the same teacher, it is a single-teacher concept.” He admitted that in Lathar alone, there are 150 such schools.
Asked if a single teacher can actually manage 50-60 students, he admitted that fresh recruitment has not been driven. He said, “Thinking in this way is very human, but some are not being recruited due to the policy reasons of the High Court,” he explained that about 26,000 teachers in the state have been appointed so far. It is worth noting that Jharkhand has about 35,000 schools.
Constant problem
Lack of teachers in Jharkhand is still an important concern for the state education system. In June 2024, Chief Justice Ms. Ramchandra Rao heard a petition stating that more than 8,000 government primary school, about one-third of the state’s total, is managed by a single teacher, according to data from UDISE 2021-22. The petition further stated that Jharkhand has a shortage of the worst teacher among the major states, no recruitment has been done since 2016.
Based on these criteria, Jharkhand requires around 100,000 primary school teachers, but the current strength is only 35,000, a shortage of more than 60,000 teachers at the primary level alone.
Prem Mohli also stated that the most infrastructure required to run the school, such as the playground and boundary walls are missing in many institutions. Vishwanath Singh said that while the government allocates funds for libraries, most of them remain non-functional.
He explained that the beGVG has often spoken directly with teachers, who complain of overburdons with training sessions and qualification requirements imposed by the government. “Teachers are consumed most of the time to meet these demands in districts like Dhanabad, Giridih, Palamu, Garhwa, and Khanti. Teachers are consumed most of the time. The timetable and schedule designed for schools is often longer than the real school hours.”
On the issue of infrastructure, DSE Sahu said that facilities are largely available to secondary and higher secondary levels, providing resources such as science laboratories, libraries and AI laboratories through local funds with District Education Office. However, at the primary school level, the infrastructure is limited.
On the money received by the state government, he said, “I think this is fine. The government is doing enough for the students, they are paying free school kits, scholarships and salary of teachers (which is more than 70-80 thousand increments).”
SPD Shashi Ranjan emphasized “providing data” and transferred the call to the state MIS coordinator, which is responsible for the management of official data for UDISE+.
Mr. Kumar recently provided screenshots of UDISE+ report for dropout rates and pupil-teacher ratio, and did not respond to our request for teacher recruitment data.
In a 30 -minute phone conversation, SPD Shashi Ranjan mentioned that funds allocated to repair infrastructure are insufficient and constrained. He said that schools typically have toilets and water facilities, and it is emphasized that the teacher recruitment drive is progressing in full swing, there are updated courses according to NEP 2020, and creative inclination, ideological and logical learning.
According to him, several policies have been applied to support school integration, mid-day meals are working well and adequately funded from class 1 to 8, and students are measures to improve infection and reduce dropout rates. He specifically stated, “With our policies, we try to ensure that a student stays in school till 12th standard.”
