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File image shows students at a school in Kerala | Photo Credit: K. Ragesh

As many as 2,914 students dropped out of schools that follow the State government syllabus in the 2024-25 academic year in Kerala. Of them, 36.65% (1,068 students) were children of migrant workers.

These students form the biggest chunk of children dropping out of State schools.

A majority of these students are from States such as Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha.

They discontinued studies either because they, along with their parents, had returned to their native States or their parents had shifted to another location for work, Minister for General Education N. Samsudheen said in a written reply in the Assembly recently.

Of the total inter-State migrant children who dropped out, 36.5% (390 children) were from Ernakulam. Malappuram district was next with 169 children abandoning studies, followed by Idukki with 127 students dropping out.

Also, 29 students were children of workers from other countries. They returned to their home countries and so, discontinued education in Kerala. Of them, 27 were from Nepal and two from Bangladesh.

Another major reason for dropping out from schools was “lack of interest in studies”, according to the Minister’s reply. A total of 704 students in the State dropped out owing to this reason.

Of them, 42.19% (297 students) were from Wayanad district. Among them, 266 students – 48 in class VIII, 104 in class IX, and 114 in class X – were in high school.

Palakkad with 92 students, Thrissur with 60 students, and Kannur with 55 students also saw students discontinue education midway owing to lack of interest.

As many as 213 students left studies because they moved to other States or countries, while 174 had dysfunctional family backgrounds.

Persistent illness, hospitalisations, and accidents were responsible for 163 students discontinuing studies. As many as 103 students left to prioritise religious education.

Some of the other factors for students dropping out include “negative attitude” of parents to education (78 students), poor financial condition of family (43 students), mobile phone addiction (33 students), and distance from school (29 students).

Teachers and school authorities in each region were asked to visit the houses of inter-State migrant workers as a team along with officials of Local-Self government department to verify whether their children were attending school on a regular basis.

In 2025, the Directorate of General Education had reported that the number of students from other States enrolled in government and aided schools across Kerala from Classes I to X had increased by over 13% from 2023-24 to 2024-25 (from 20,911 in 2023-24 to 23,637 in 2024-25).

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