Government schools in Delhi have seen the pass percentage of their Class 10 students drop by 23 per cent in the academic year 2017-18 compared to the year before, reports The New Indian Express. In 2016-17, 92.44 per cent of students in government schools in the national capital cleared their Class 10 exams but in 2017-18 only 68.9 per cent did.

The data is from a report published by the Praja Foundation. “Where did the 1,72,995 students who did not transition to 10th class in 2017-18 go?” Founder and managing trustee of the Praja Foundation Nita Mehta questioned.

Another worrying statistic revealed in the report is that close to 55 per cent of government school students did not get promoted from Class 9 to Class 10 in 2016-17.

Schools run by the municipal corporations of Delhi also performed poorly. The enrollment at such schools dropped from 8.69 lakh pupils in 2013-14 to 7.24 lakh in 2017-18, which is a negative growth of 17 per cent. Government schools saw enrolment falling by 8 per cent.

Although Delhi has a correspondence education scheme known as ‘Patrachar’, which allows students who have failed 8th or 9th standard to appear for the 10th standard exam via correspondence, the rate of enrolment in the programme is just 2 per cent of the total number of dropouts.