Why many kids are still dropping out of Schools?
Although the primary gross enrollment ratio has increased substantially at the primary levels, still a sizeable population of children in the age group 6 to 12 years drop out from the schools every year.
There are various perceptions among public that female child drops out in majority of the cases because of safety reasons. However till date I never got a data point which could help me understand the reasons for why school kids are dropping out in large numbers.
The National Health Family Survey 2019–20 provides some exciting analysis which helps us assess the reasons on why kids are dropping out of schools. Firstly let us take the Gross and Net Attendance ratio at primary school
NAR ( Net Attendance Ratio ) is the percentage of the primary school age population attending school. Notice that a significant population is attending the schools and there is no marginal difference across various religions, castes and even Wealth Quintile. Notice on social category basis, the general merit students have a net attendance ratio of 85.6 which is not significantly different from SC/ST who have 82.3/81.9. The difference is marginal. Even on income terms, Lowest quintile have an NAR of 80.8 compared to highest who have 84.4 where the difference is not too much.
The above table gives NAR and GAR for the Middle and Secondary Schools. Here GAR and NAR gradually increases. For example, on a social category base SC/ST have NAR of 69.2 and 65.1 while the general category students have 62.3%. This is not marginally different. However when we compare the lowest wealth quintile with the Highest one, the difference is significant. For example NAR for Lowest Wealth Quintile is 58.2% while Highest is 83.6% showing a huge gap which was not noticed in the primary school segment.
So why are so many students dropping off in Middle and Secondary Schools. The reasons needs to be analyzed in detail. The National Family Health Survey also provides the data on these which are enclosed below.
The Primary Reasons in order for Males in ascending order is listed below
Not Interested in studies > Costs too much > Required for household work > Required for outside work for payment in cash or kind > Repeated Failures
are the Top 5 significant reasons for males
For females there is slight change in this which is listed below
Not Interested in studies > Costs too much > Required for household work > Got Married > School too far away
are the Top 5 significant reasons for Females.
Not safe to send girls, No proper school facilities for girls, no female teacher, required to take care of siblings, Transport not available were not considered very important reasons for dropping off. This is a significant finding since generally this leads to a conclusion that the Indian schools in general are safer than what is perceived to be.
Most important factor is to make the curriculum child centric. More than 35.7% of Males and 21.4% of Females drop out because they are no more interested in studies
An important factor is the curriculum and the mode of teaching in the schools. The rote learning in the schools and lack of scientific language training in English and Math induces lower self confidence and does not make the child self reliant. The child has to transition from a phase of learning to read to a stage of reading to learn. However in majority of the schools, this phase takes a much longer time and with income and social inequality, the time further increases among the lower classes.
. As joblessness grows in the country, it is very common to see educated youth in villages without any employment. If this increases, it sends a negative connotation about the need for education. When the education and success outcomes diverge, more number of students will get disinterested in education. So, it is important to track the performance of the teachers overall and control the delivery of education in all schools. It is noticed that teachers are very badly paid and there is no accountability on them in the final educational outcomes of the child. If the child has not learnt basic literary skills even by grade 5 and there is a general pattern that majority of the students have not learnt the same, it is important to fix accountability on the school management and the teachers. Systematic accreditation of teachers and upskilling of teachers is the need of the hour.
Bridge programs and also ability for students to take options without Math should be provided so that those students who are not interested in Math can atleast complete the degree in humanities.
School too far away is an important reasons for girl child dropping out in Rural areas. Notice that around 7.0% of the females dropouts find that schools are too far away and in the modern day world one day delivery, these are problems which can be solved by providing safe travel arrangements for girl child. Can’t the school have a exclusive school bus manned by a teacher and driver to monitor the safety of the child? There are SOPs defined for all such travels all over India and it should not be a problem to solve such issues.
Required for Household work appears to be substantial number forming 13.3% of the total drop outs among females and 9.8% among males. Although females are dropping out more, male population dropping out is also substantially higher. Article 24 of the Indian constitution clearly states that,
“No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or employed in any hazardous employment.
So although constitution guarantees no work for children till 14 years, so that they can focus on their education and well being, still a majority of children are pulled out for day to day work in one’s business or for working for others.
The next important reason is high costs. Around 16.1% of males and 20.6% of females are dropping out of schools because of these reasons. When the fee is high and there is no access to quality government schools, then the poor are forced to take their kids out of the schools. In one of my earlier articles, I had clearly mentioned that school fee regulation is the need of the hour and if unchecked, the private cartel would ensure high fees. For example, the average fees in many CBSE schools is crossing Rs 1 lakh per student. In the recent times, post corona, there is exodus of students who are leaving private schools and joining the government schools since they can no more afford high fees because of lack of disposable incomes. One of the solutions proposed is school fee regulation as done in Gujarat Government. The detailed article on this is enclosed below for your reference.
Reengineering the School Fee Regulation — Solutions for Government | by NETHRAPAL | Medium
The next important factor is the curriculum and the mode of teaching in the schools. The rote learning in the schools and lack of scientific language training in English and Math induces lower self confidence and does not make the child self reliant. The child has to transition from a phase of learning to read to a stage of reading to learn. However in majority of the schools, this phase takes a much longer time and with income and social inequality, the time further increases among the lower classes.
More than 35.7% of Males and 21.4% of Females drop out because they are no more interested in studies. As joblessness grows in the country, it is very common to see educated youth in villages without any employment. If this increases, it sends a negative connotation about the need for education. When the education and success outcomes diverge, more number of students will get disinterested in education. So, it is important to track the performance of the teachers overall and control the delivery of education in all schools. It is noticed that teachers are very badly paid and there is no accountability on them in the final educational outcomes of the child. If the child has not learnt basic literary skills even by grade 5 and there is a general pattern that majority of the students have not learnt the same, it is important to fix accountability on the school management and the teachers. Systematic accreditation of teachers and upskilling of teachers is the need of the hour.
Bridge programs and also ability for students to take options without Math should be provided so that those students who are not interested in Math can atleast complete the degree in humanities.
Although other factors are present, however they are not significant enough to contribute to the overall dropout rates. A comprehensive policy to address the dropouts and also incentives to get them back in school should done so that majority of the children get the best quality education in early years to make them better citizens.
