18000 students in Odisha are not writing their annual matriculation examinations that had commenced from March 10, 2023. This alarming dropout rate had raised concern among the state school education department officials. In all, 5,41,247 students had submitted the forms for appearing in the examinations in the state this year. Earlier in November 2022, 14000 students across the state have not appeared for their summative I examinations and now the non-appearance has risen up to 18000 in the summative II examinations. The students would be assessed based on their performance in summative I, summative II and internal exams with a weightage of scores spread at 40%, 40% and 20% respectively.
In 2021 only 4, 412 students had given a miss to their matriculation examination. In 2022, more than 44,000 had not appeared for their matriculation examinations, making it the highest ever dropout number ever for Odisha. Though the dropout rate had come down this year it is still causing concerns for officials. While in the tribal-dominated Bolangir district 1,199 students gave their examinations a miss, coastal Balasore reported 1,158 dropouts followed by Kalahandi (766), Jajpur (755), Koraput (686), Khurda (494), Cuttack (420), Kendrapada (425) and Jagatsinghpur (235). Meanwhile, 500 students each from Open School are reported absent for their Madhyama examination.
