Youngsters in India shunning higher education, new govt survey suggests

Dropout rates at diploma and graduation levels are on the rise, one in five students still drop out from school, but attendance of existing students has improved, a new govt survey on education shows

Opposite the gates of Savitribai Phule Pune University, one of the premier universities in India, thousands of students attend graduation courses at the Modern College of Commerce. Every academic session, the number of students signing up exceeds the previous year. But so does the fee. But there is another constant, reminds Namdev Doke, who mans the institute’s examination centre. 

“Around 30 per cent of students drop out by the third year, when we begin compiling their final grades and graduation certificates,” says Doke. 

“If this is the situation in Pune, a city known for its education legacy, I shudder to think of