Bhubaneswar: At least 16,000 students have skipped the annual Class X board exam in the past two years, triggering concern in the school and mass education department about absenteeism.Data available with the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) revealed that 8,364 students who had filled up examination forms this year did not appear for the exam. The figure from last year — a little over 8,000 — is only marginally different.Officials said the trend has prompted the department to examine the reasons behind absenteeism, particularly in districts reporting consistently high number of absent candidates.District-wise data in 2026 has shown that Keonjhar recorded the highest number of absentee examinees at 752, closely followed by Mayurbhanj with 750. Migration-prone Balangir, where students in past years have been found dropping out of school to work along with their parents, reported 640 absent students, while Balasore and Ganjam recorded 627 and 522 such candidates, respectively.“At the local level, we have noticed children moving out to work or suffer fear of exams owing to poor learning levels and probable failure. Many fail to understand the seriousness of a matric (Class X) certificate,” said Gangadhar Hembram, a teacher from Mayurbhanj.“In previous years, too, the department found child marriage, poverty and entering the workforce at an early age as the primary reasons behind students dropping out of school and exams,” said Kailash Dandapat, an educationist.Concerned over the rising number of absentee students in the High School Certificate (HSC) exam, the school and mass education department has initiated measures to identify such students and bring them back into the education system.Commissioner-cum-secretary of the department, N Thirumala Naik, said district education officers (DEO)s conducted a survey to identify students who remained absent from the matric examination this year and ascertain the reasons behind their decision. “The reasons were multiple, including ill-health, family-related issues and other personal circumstances,” Naik said.He added that the absentee pattern varied among students. “There are many students who appeared for the first two exams and then dropped out midway. There are also some who did not appear at all. We will again conduct a detailed survey to map all such students,” Naik added.The department is trying to understand whether absenteeism is linked to migration, economic distress, poor learning levels, health issues or lack of confidence among students.Naik said the government would make efforts to ensure that these students do not permanently discontinue their studies. “All such students will be motivated to appear for the ensuing HSC supplementary examination or the second phase of the Odisha State Open School Certificate examination so that they can secure a matriculation certificate,” he said.
