Abstract:

In a globalized economy, it is an undeniable reality that a country's development is greatly reliant on its own residents' education. Although India has made significant successes in raising literacy; the occurrence of dropouts at every stage of education has retained a blemish on an otherwise admirable record. With this backdrop, it is pertinent to examine the rural and urban gap in the dropout rate as well as the gender variation of dropout in the rural-urban region in India between 2007-08 and 2017-2018. This study utilized secondary data from the NSSO survey 64th and 75th round. The major finding of this research revealed that the overall difference between rural and urban dropout rates has been reduced besides the gender difference between male and female dropouts in the rural and urban areas fell during 2007-08 and 2017-18. Further the results show that there was no statistically significant gender difference in dropout rates between male and female students as well as no significant difference in the rural-urban gap from 2007-08 to 2017-18 as evidenced through independent sample t-test. Thus, the results of this study will inspire policymakers and educational institutions to manage the problem of dropout instantly by improving the quality of education and provide free secondary schooling as the dropout rate is highest at this level among all categories. The government must make sure that the entire necessary infrastructure is in place and give some remedial measures to overcome this issue.

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