The Alarming Student Dropouts in Nuh: Understanding the Causes and Finding Solutions

Nuh, one of India’s least developed districts, is facing a serious education crisis. A recent study of government schools reveals a shocking dropout rate, raising concerns about the future of thousands of students.

In the 2024-25 academic year, 1.45 lakh students were enrolled in Class 5. By Class 8, this dropped to 82,950. By Class 10, only 22,402 remained, and by Class 12, the number was a mere 12,981—just 9% of the original Class 5 strength.

Source: TOI

Why are so many students dropping out of schools in Nuh? 

The alarming rise in student dropouts in Nuh, highlights deep-rooted socioeconomic and structural challenges. The issue is not simply about students choosing to leave education but rather a combination of issues. This includes financial constraints, systemic gaps, and societal factors that push them out of school. Let’s look at the key points experts emphasized:

• Economic Hardships and Child Labor: Many families in Nuh prioritize survival over education. This push boys into labor-intensive jobs and girls into household duties, leading to high dropout rates.
• Seasonal Migration: Frequent relocations for work cause educational disruptions, resulting in loss of interest and school dropouts.
• Parental Awareness: Low literacy among parents leads to skepticism about education’s benefits, making them favor immediate income over schooling.
• Teacher Shortages: A lack of teachers and vacant administrative positions weaken education quality, forcing multi-grade classes and ineffective learning.

One critical yet overlooked factor is also the widening learning gap. 

There is little to no provision for training teachers to address the learning gaps in students, leaving them behind. As they progress through the grades, they are unable to cope up with the rigour of the higher grades. Over time, this makes school less engaging, causing further dropouts. This is of course exacerbated due to migration of their families. 

Apart from this, based on our observations while working with government schools in 22 states across India, including those in Nuh, we have identified a key issue. We believe that another major reason for dropouts is the lack of engaging and enjoyable classrooms.

There are many factors that need to be considered if we have to solve this issue across districts nationwide. 

While we may not be experts in every domain, we can say with certainty that introduction of digital learning in the classrooms can play a significant role in reducing the dropouts. 

Let’s understand how: 

The first step in creating an engaging classroom is to make learning fun and interactive for students.

This can be achieved by setting up smart classrooms that provide teachers with access to engaging digital content, making lessons more enjoyable and easier to understand. For example, animated video lessons can help teachers bring concepts to life, while practice questions and simulations can make the classroom more interactive and connected to real-life scenarios. In East Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, where the class X passing percentage was as low as 28%, with the implementation of Smart Classrooms for students of Grade 8, 9 and 10, this number went up to 60%. Do check out this video to understand how district level interventions designed with a very affordable Smart Classroom can address the issue of school dropout. 

Secondly, we strongly feel that the budget should be allocated to establish PAL labs in government schools.

These PAL labs will enable students to cover up previous learning gaps. They will also equip teachers with valuable data on students’ learning gaps, enabling them to personalize instruction effectively. Measuring learning gaps is essential, as it will allow us to address and bridge the gaps systematically. With just one year of usage of a learning application on mobile devices, across 7,500 girl students in UP, we were able to achieve learning outcomes ranging from 30% to 54% compared to the baseline scores. Have a look at this video to understand what Personalised Adaptive Learning or PAL is and why it is so critical for government schools to adopt it now. 

With Smart Classrooms and PAL labs in government schools, we are able to address the issues arising due to teacher shortages in schools. With personalised devices for the students, a teacher can manage a multi grade classroom in a much better way. It also allows teachers to handle students with different levels of learning in a single classroom. 

Moreover, an additional advantage with PAL Labs is that the student level data gets recorded and saved. 

If there could be a provision for migrant families to easily enroll their children in the nearest government schools as they move, it would be very helpful. This would allow student data to be seamlessly passed from one school to another. Most states allot a unique ID to their students and as students change schools, all  that one needs to do is transfer the ID from one school to the next. With availability of student level data, the teachers can start teaching from the same point where the student had left off. This is easier said than done but in the digital world we live in today, this is also not something which is very difficult to achieve. 

The Student Dropouts in Nuh is a reflection of deep-rooted challenges that many underserved districts across India face. 

While economic hardship, migration, and systemic gaps continue to push students out of the classroom, we must shift our focus towards creating solutions that are inclusive, scalable, and future-ready. Digital learning—through Smart Classrooms and Personalised Adaptive Learning (PAL) Labs—offers us a real opportunity to reimagine education for these students. By making classrooms more engaging, addressing learning gaps, and ensuring continuity for migrant children, we can begin to reverse the trend. 

We would be happy to collaborate with the government, NGOs, and social sector organizations to address the crisis of student dropouts in Nuh. If you would like to know more about smart classrooms or PAL Labs, we would love to connect and discuss potential strategies. You may reach out to us at +91 7678265039 or share your details here. You can also write to us at [email protected]

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