Kerala achieves top rankings in UDISE+ for 2024-25, says Sivankutty

Kerala has figured in the top rankings in major areas, including academic standards, retention rate, infrastructure and gender equality, in the latest Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data for 2024-25 released by the Ministry of Education (MoE) this week, General Education Minister V. Sivankutty has said. The UDISE+ data is gathered using the Samagra Shiksha System.

He said on Sunday that Kerala’s achievement of 99.5% retention rate, indicating the fact that 99.5% out of every 100 students who enter Class I reach Class X, is significant especially when compared with the national average and the record of the other States. As many as 90% of the students joined higher secondary level. However, the UDISE+ figures do not reflect the number of students who enter ITIs and polytechnics, which are used for vocational education and training.

The retention rate at the national level is only 62.9%, which means that out of every 100 children who enrol in Class I, 37 drop out before they reach Class X. In the case of higher secondary, the figures at the national level is only 47.2%. Those in power in the country are making huge claims of academic excellence while hiding these basic facts, he said.

Physical infrastructure

According to the data, only 71.2% of the students from Gujarat who enter Class I reach Class X, while only 42.3% of them reach Class XII. In the case of students from Uttar Pradesh, these numbers are 49.6% and 42.8%. Mr. Sivankutty said that Kerala is also far ahead in the physical infrastructure in schools, with 99.1% of schools in the State having access to computers. At the national level, only 57% of all schools and 52% of the government schools have the facility.

In the case of the Gender Parity Index, which indicates gender equality, Kerala’s score is above 1 at all levels of school education, which shows that the participation of girls is equal to or higher than that of boys. Schools in the State also maintain excellent standards in terms of libraries, playgrounds, toilets for boys and girls as well as other facilities. The percentage of trained teachers is much higher than the national average at all levels. The government is committed to further improving the quality of education in Kerala, he said.

The Minister also accused the Union government of not providing any funds to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the past year. Out of the ₹37,000 crore which the Union government was supposed to disburse to the States in 2024-25, ₹27,824 crore have been disbursed. But the three States have not been given a single penny from this, he alleged.