The dropout rate in primary schools has been gradually reducing over the past several years, but this dip is still “statistically insignificant”, according to the Annual Primary School Census (APSC) 2016 report. The dropout rate was 19.2 per cent in 2016 as against 20.4 per cent in 2015, the report says. In earlier years, the rates were 20.9 per cent (2014), 21.4 per cent (2013), 26.2 per cent (2012), 29.7 per cent (2011), 39.8 per cent (2010) and 47.2 per cent (2005). The report on the state of affairs in primary education finds that the dropout rate is higher among boys than girls. In 2016, the dropout rate of boys was 22.3 per cent and that of girls was 16.1 per cent compared to the previous year’s figures of 23.9 per cent…

Myanmar’s deputy defence chief yesterday urged the world to give his government “time and…