The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), released on Wednesday, showed that over 86.8 per cent of youngsters aged 14 to 18 in the country are enrolled in educational institutions, with more than half of them choosing the humanities stream.
The report highlighted minor gender differences in enrollment but identified significant variations among different age groups. It also revealed that older youths are more likely to be not enrolled, with 3.9 per cent aged 14 and 32.6 per cent aged 18.
According to the report, over 55 per cent of students in Classes 11-12 prefer humanities as their stream of choice, followed by science and commerce.
It further highlighted that fewer females are choosing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics streams compared to males.
Contrary to concerns, the report dismissed the notion that numerous older students dropped out of school during the Covid-19 pandemic due to a loss of livelihood.
The previous year's report showed that enrollment levels for children aged six to 14 increased from 96.6 per cent in 2010 to 96.7 per cent in 2014 and from 97.2 per cent in 2018 to 98.4 per cent in 2022.