School sanitation and girls’ dropout: evidence from secondary schools of Assam, India

The present study explores sanitation infrastructure and girls’ dropout in the secondary schools of Assam, India. It uses Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 as a data source for the 33 districts of Assam to examine district–wise variation and correlation in the dropouts and sanitation infrastructure. Also, to support this, the study incorporates qualitative analysis using telephonic interviews. The results indicate that the average dropout is higher for the Child With Special Needs (CWSN) girls than for abled girls, with variations across districts. Further, the correlation results show variability across the districts and subgroups. This indicates that the aggregate statistical patterns alone may not fully capture the contextual challenges influencing girls’ dropout.