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Drop-out rate

4.19 Kerala has achieved the distinction of having the lowest dropout rate of school students among
the Indian states. In the year 2012-13, dropout ratio among school students in Kerala was 0.48%.
The dropout ratios in Lower Primary stage and High School stage are higher compared to that of the
UP stage.

4.20 Among the Districts, Thiruvananthapuram has the highest dropout ratio in the lower primary
section (1.56%), and Wayanad in upper primary section (1.41%). In the case of high school section
Wayanad has the highest drop-out ratio (2.77%). District-wise/stage-wise dropout ratio in schools in
2012-13 is given in Appendix.4.12. Drop-out ratio among SC students in Kerala during 2012-13 was
0.54% and that of ST students was 3.53%. District wise and stage wise details of drop-outs among
SC and ST students in Kerala for the year 2012-13 are given in Appendices 4.13 and 4.14.

Number of Teachers

4.21 The number of school teachers in Kerala including Teachers Training Institute (TTI) teachers
during 2013-14 was 169851. Out of this 100541(59.19%) teachers are working in aided schools and
13989(8.24%) teachers are working in private unaided schools. The remaining 32.57% of teachers
are working in government schools. 52.31% of total teachers in the state are teaching in high schools,
24.48% in upper primary schools, 22.76% in lower primary schools and the remaining (0.45%) in
TTI’s. 71.72% of total teachers in the state are women. Stage-wise and management-wise number
of teachers in Kerala during 2013-14 is given in Appendix 4.15.

Uneconomic Schools

4.22 Schools with insufficient strength of pupils are termed as uneconomic schools. There are 5412
uneconomic schools in Kerala as per the figures of 2013-14, which registered an increase of 275
schools over previous year. Out of these 2531 are government schools and 2881 are in the aided
sector. District-wise analysis shows that highest number of uneconomic schools is in Pathanamthitta
district (525nos). In government sector Thiruvananthapuram district has the largest (295nos) number
of uneconomic schools followed by Ernakulam district (286nos). Among the government uneconomic
schools, 74.32% are of lower primary schools. In the aided sector also 80.60% of uneconomic schools
are lower primary schools. District wise details of uneconomic schools in the state in 2013-14 are
given in Appendix 4.16.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)

4.23 The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan was introduced in 2000-2001 as the flagship programme by
Government of India. This scheme is framed to provide useful and relevant elementary education
for all children in the age group of 6 to 14 by 2010 irrespective of any social, regional, economic
and gender barriers, with the active participation of the community in the management schools. It
encompasses all activities of school education-providing physical infrastructure, free text book for
children, encouraging enrolment of girls and teacher training. The fund sharing between the central
and the states was 75:25 in the Tenth Plan. The funding pattern for the Eleventh Plan was modified
to 65:35. The implementation of the programme to the real essence is extra emphasised in the event
of the constitution of the Right to Education Act in the country.

Kerala State Planning Board