Education and Dropouts

Education and Dropouts

(By Suhana Ahmed ) 

Image By:- Darshika Singh

The reason for dropping out of education is, most of the time, poverty. Some dropouts of school are voluntary while others are forced to do so under terrible circumstances. School dropout is a universal fact. Whatever be the reason, the mere fact that a child is not getting to complete their basic school education is not virtuous. The society and the country go under a loss every time a child has to drop out despite not wanting to because there is a potential, there is a skill in them that education would have enhanced and given them the opportunity to stand in front of the world.No reason can be big enough and act as a replacement for school education. The impact of family and community poverty is high on high school dropouts.  

 

In the year 2017-18, the state of Assam was recorded to have a dropout rate of 10.1% in primary schools alone, which was the highest in the whole of India. The drop out rate in the secondary schools was 33.7%. This is not a small number. The entire country had around 18% of secondary school students leave education due to vast reasons.

Primary dropouts face extremely bleak economic and social prospects. Compared to high school graduates they are less likely to find a job and earn a living wage,  likely to be poor and to suffer from a variety of adverse health outcomes. Moreover, they are more likely to rely on public assistance, engage in crime and generate other social costs borne by taxpayers. Poverty and dropouts are inextricably connected in three primary settings affecting the healthy child and adolescent development. While India has made significant progress in raising enrollment rates for primary education schools have been less successful at preventing dropouts during this critical learning phase.  

 

According to data put out by the Ministry Of Human Resource Development, the national dropout rate at primary level was 4.34 percent in 2014 -2015 and it was even higher at the secondary level at 17.86 percent.  

 

There are many reasons why a child might dropout from school: ranging from the migration of families and child marriage to lack of school infrastructures such as drinking water and toilets, and from weaker economic conditions to lack of interest.

 

Poverty, availability and accessibility are three big reasons why children drop out of school. When a family is not financially secure, prioritizing a child's education takes a backseat. In areas where the school is at a far distance from their abode, parents seem it as unsafe for a child especially girls to travel far. This validated dropout rates rose sharply after class five. 

 

Another reason why drop out rates rise after primary education is the stage when a child reaches the age of 10-11 years when it is considered suitable for induction into child labour. The role of the teacher is too critical as dropouts often speak of teachers beating them and complain that teachers waste class time in chit chats with other teachers.  

 

And yet as Mr.Krishna Kumar, former director National Council of Educational Research Training points out that "there is no such thing as a national picture by mathematical aggregation that picture is meaningless since regional variations are far too big.".

 

Indeed while Karnataka has a dropout rate of 2.3 percent which is below the national average, Rajasthan at 8.39 percent is double the national rate and Manipur's is four times 18 percent. The variations are sharper If the data is disaggregated to the district level.  

 

Such sharp variations between states and even within states suggest that local, social and cultural factors play a major role in school retention and therefore any intervention to reduce dropouts need to be rooted in the local context.  

 

Nonetheless, it is possible to identify a few generic approaches. We should respond quickly to early indicators of a potential dropout such as absenteeism by counseling students. Ensuring social inclusiveness especially with regard to female, LGBTQ+ and Dalit children, sensitising teachers and convincing parents of first-generation students of the value of education always makes a  big difference.  

 

Among dropouts and non-attendees overall, their need to supplement household incomes still remains the prime reason for not pursuing studies.  

This is especially true for a girl child over the age of 15. In this category, nearly half the non-attendees do so because of their engagement in domestic activities. A good proportion would also have dropped out owing to marriage. There comes the need for free education, or at least higher fee concessions.

 

With the median age of marriage among women in India still remaining low, women are forced to assist with domestic chores at an early age, thus leading to them discontinuing their education. This is visible both in rural and urban India. Similarly, for boys over the age of 15, there is a spike in the drop out rate owing to the need to earn.  

 

To overcome dropout rates in India. 

 

• Creating awareness about the importance of education and the problems faced by undereducated or uneducated masses.  

• Provision of free education.

• Reach out to the community to make school going kids feel the importance of studies that can benefit them in the long run. 

• Provide a positive environment to the children so that it can impact their brains to study and benefit them. 

• Provide career and technical education.  

• Use technology to engage students.  

• Keep schools open to serve as community hubs in summer.  

• It is important to enhance and develop the education system in government institutions.

• Classes should be interactive and skill-development oriented with extracurricular activities and such other aspects.

There are furthermore steps that can be taken to provide a platform to study. We need to remember that education is everyone's right and everybody deserves to study, to study whatever they like and that we need to eradicate child labor. We can start off by giving economical assistance and proper labor wages to the below poverty line masses so that they get access to their everyday basic necessities and the kids don't have to go to work abandoning their education.

Disclaimer:-

The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Light de Literacy and LDL does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.