Dakshina Kannada district has topped Karnataka state in reducing school dropout rates for the third consecutive year, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2025 released on Monday.

The district recorded a dropout rate of just 0.8 percent for the academic year 2024–25, well below the state average of 3.2 percent. District Education Officer Smt. Rekha Shetty credited the success to the Vidyarthi Mitra programme, which assigns a local volunteer mentor to every at-risk student.

How the Programme Works

Under the initiative launched in 2022, over 1,800 trained youth volunteers across 312 government schools make weekly home visits, track attendance, and coordinate with anganwadi centres for early intervention.