Chandigarh, Feb. 23 -- Nearly 72% of school dropouts in Chandigarh fall in the 14-18 age group, with senior secondary students continuing to account for the majority of those leaving school, according to the UT education department's child mapping survey 2026. Of the 2,441 students identified as dropouts in the 6-18 age bracket this year, about 1,748 were aged between 14 and 18. The dropout pattern has remained largely unchanged over the past three years. In 2025, 1,797 of 2,576 dropouts (around 69%) were in the same age group, while in 2024, 1,629 of 2,394 (about 68%) were senior secondary students. The annual exercise involves door-to-door child mapping of all children from birth to 18 years, conducted in December last year. Besides tracking enrolment, the education department identifies non-literates aged 15 and above who were never enrolled, so they can be brought under adult literacy programmes. The child mapping survey also focuses on tracing out-of-school children in the 7-14 age group. particularly among vulnerable populations such as street children and those at railway stations, bus stands, dhabas and markets. This year, 1,73,125 children in the 3-18 age group were mapped in the survey. Of them, 88,490 are enrolled in government schools, 57,273 in recognised private schools and 12,776 in unrecognised institutions. While school dropouts remain concentrated in Classes 9 to 12, the number of children who have never enrolled in school has steadily declined. In 2026, 1,798 children in the 6-18 age group were identified as never enrolled, compared with 2,033 in 2025 and 2,335 in 2024. The age-wise break-up highlights the contrast. This year, about 287 dropouts were in the 6-11 age group and 406 in the 11-14 bracket, compared to 1,748 in the 14-18 category. However, among children who were never enrolled, the highest number - 1,229 - was in the 6-11 age group. Overall, the total number of out-of-school children (dropouts and never enrolled) in the 6-18 bracket stands at 4,239 in 2026, according to the child mapping survey . The child mapping survey also recorded 10,347 children in the 3-6 age group as not studying this year, which is down from 11,408 in 2025 and 11,472 in 2024. Former NCERT director Krishna Kumar said the concentration of dropouts in senior secondary classes was not unexpected. "There is nothing startling about the higher rate of school leaving among 14-18-year-olds. Secondary schools make little effort to retain students, and there is no legal obligation to do so. After Grade 8, many 15-year-olds also feel pressure to contribute to family income," he said. Director school education Nitish Singla remained unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts to contact him. Arvind Rana,a member of the Chandigarh teachers' association (CTA), attributed part of the dropout trend to policy changes. "After the no-detention policy was abolished last year, some students started dropping out of schools and opted for open schools instead of repeating a class," he said. Seema Rani, principal of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, Chandigarh, pointed to socio-economic and academic factors for the dropouts. "I think it is more prevalent in low economic classes as students start working, especially boys, to support their families. Second, I think there is a lack of career guidance. Sometimes poor results in Class 10 lower their interest in pursuing higher education," she said....