Meghalaya
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Guwahati: One of the major concerns for the state of Meghalaya is the high dropout rate of the school children in the state.

Meghalaya is placed third in the country in terms of dropout of Class 10 students with 33.5 per cent of children opting out from the schools.

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The Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that Meghalaya has registered the third-highest dropout rate in India in Class 10 with 33.5 per cent. The dropout rate in Class 10 for the country stands at 20.6 per cent as of 2021-22 with Odisha being the worst-performing state in this regard followed by Bihar.

Congress MLA, Saleng A Sangma said on Thursday, “It seems the state government is not taking a serious note of this.”

The opposition MLA explained that dropout means an additional burden as it leads to unemployment and anti-social activities.

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“It is a very serious matter that our children are dropping out like this. What will happen to the future of the state? What will happen to the society?” he questioned.

“We are talking about entrepreneurship programme, employment and all that but we are ignoring the fate of these dropouts,” he added.

Sangma said the government must make efforts, quickly, to arrest the high dropout rate and focus on the education of these children.

“The government has to think about the quality of education so that children will not drop out. The government also has to make sure that teachers are well trained and schools are well informed with what is happening,” Sangma said.

He also suggested that the stakeholders should get together and form a think tank to pressurise the government and suggest correctional steps where required.