Education is a key driver of individual and national development, reducing poverty and enhancing socio-economic progress. Despite constitutional mandates for free and compulsory education up to 14 years of age in India, significant dropout rates persist, particularly among children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. School dropout not only infringes on children’s rights but also results in wastage of educational resources and perpetuates cycles of poverty. There may be different reasons for school dropout children studied by various authors ^(1-6) at various times, in majority of cases it was related to Poverty directly or indirectly. Dropping out of school is a good example of an issue where a bio-psychosocial perspective could be useful; where there is a confluence of biological (various neuro-developmental issues), psychological (cognitive issues and issues connected to intelligence and learning), and social (issues of poverty, social opportunities, health provisions) factors that come into play.^(7-8)  This study aims to explore the reasons for school dropout and socio-demographic characteristics of dropout children in an urban slum setting.

OBJECTIVES

1. To estimate the various reasons for school dropouts among the children aged 6-14 years school dropout children residing in the Jhalana Kacchi basti in Jaipur City.
2. To present socio-demographic profile of these school dropout children.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study Area- Jhalana Kacchi basti of Jaipur city.

Study Design- A community based Descriptive type of observational study.

Study Period-1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014.

Sample Size- 25% of households residing in Jhalana Kacchi Basti of Jaipur city, will were surveyed for school dropouts; to achieve this every 4^th household was surveyed by Systematic Random Sampling technique

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Children aged 6-14, who dropped out of schools for more than one year,
2. School Dropout Children, whose family had stayed in the study area for more than one year,

Exclusion Criteria:  

1. Children, whose parents/guardians will not give consent
2. Seriously ill/hospitalized children,

Method of Data Collection- Data was collected using a pre-designed, Semi- structured Performa.

RESULTS

A total of 180 school dropout children were surveyed.

Socio-Demographic Profile: out of 180 children, 57.8% were boys and 42.2% girls, with a mean age of 12.41 years. Majority (88.9%) were Hindu. Most parents were illiterate (60.6% fathers, 75.6% mothers), with fathers mainly engaged in manual labor and mothers primarily homemakers. Over half of the children belonged to large families (>5 members) and nuclear family structures predominated (73.9%).

Educational Status: Most children had education up to 4th standard or beyond (72.2%).

Reasons for Dropout: The predominant reason was inability to afford education-related expenses (71.1%), followed by the need to work for family support (37.2%), household responsibilities (31.1%), parental reluctance (30.6%), and disinterest in school (30%). Among boys and girls, reluctance of Parents (23.1% boys and 40.8% girls), disinterest in school curriculum (36.5% boys and 21.1% girls) to participate in house hold activities (5.8% boys and 44.7% girls), desire to earn money (17.3% boys and 0.0% girls), to look after younger siblings (24.0% boys and 40.8% girls) and to work for supporting family (55.8% boys and 11.8% girls) were statistical significant reasons (p value <0.05). Gender differences were significant: boys mainly dropped out to support family financially, while girls were withdrawn for household tasks and parental reluctance.

Table 1: Distribution of the school dropout children according to the reasons leading to their school dropout

DISCUSSION

A study on causes of school dropout in urban slums was undertaken in Jhalana Kacchi basti of Jaipur city. Children who after enrolment had stopped going to the schools for at least one year were selected for the study. Children of age less than 6 years and more than 14 years were excluded from the study. 180 such children were studied.

It was observed in the present study that majority, 104 (57.8%) children were boys and 76 (42.2%) were girls. This observation is similar to that in the study by A Khokhar et al., in which boys constituted 54.23% of the study population and girls 45.77%.²

It was observed that out of 180 school dropout children, majority, i.e., 50 (27.78%) were 14years old, followed by 48 (26.67%) aged 13 years, 39 (21.67%) aged 12 years followed by 20 (11.11%) aged 11 years, 14 (7.78%) aged 10 years and 9(5.00%) aged 9 years. This observation matches with that of the Executive Summary published by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in which also it was observed that school dropout rate increases with the age group.⁹ In this study also the number of school dropout children increases with the age of the children. In majority, i.e., 102 (56.7%) children both the parents were illiterate. Only in cases of 37 (20.6%) children neither parent is illiterate. In rest of the children, either of the parents is illiterate. This shows the association between the illiteracy status of the parents and their children dropping out of school. This observation matches the Public Report on Basic Education (PROBE) 1996. This report observed that parent’s attitudes towards education have a major effect on the education of their children. It seems that when either of the parents is literate or especially when women are literate, they are more willing to send their children, especially girls, to the school.¹⁰

Out of the 180 children studied, inability to pay education was given as a reason by majority, 128 (71.1%) followed by to work for supporting family 67 (37.2%), to look after younger siblings 56 (31.1%), reluctance of parents 55 (30.6%), disinterest 54 (30.0%), to participate in house hold activities 40 (22.2%), poor school/home environment 27 (15.0%), death of parents 27 (15.0%), desire to earn money 18 (10%), and others 16 (8.0%). Inability to pay money for education meant that these children and their family could not afford the extra burden of the schooling like expenditure for books, fees of the schools, money for transportation to and from school, uniforms etc. In the absence of this extra burden associated with schooling, the family had probably adequate money for meeting the basic daily expenses. Maithly B and Vartika Saxena made similar observation. The main reason for dropping out was financial difficulties for both girls and boys. Besides this reason, 31% boys and 13% girls reported that they are not interested in further studies.⁵ These reasons match with those identified for school dropout by the Centre for Business and Economic Research (CBER), USA, like poverty, problematic social environment (like broken families) and behaviour (like juvenile delinquency), poor academic performance, search for work and difficulty with English language.¹¹

Among boys and girls, reluctance of Parents (23.1% boys and 40.8% girls), disinterest in school curriculum (36.5% boys and 21.1% girls) to participate in house hold activities (5.8% boys and 44.7% girls), desire to earn money (17.3% boys and 0.0% girls), to look after younger siblings (24.0% boys and 40.8% girls) and to work for supporting family (55.8% boys and 11.8% girls) were statistical significant reasons (p value <0.05). Maithly B and Vartika Saxena made similar observations. The main reason for the school dropout in boys was poverty (in 40%), followed by no interest in studies (in 31%) and absence of facility for further studies nearby their homes.⁵  

Similar observation was made by A Khokhar et al that nearly 42.85% of girls were pulled out of the schools by their parents as compared to only 15.10% of boys.²

Findings of this study align with previous studies highlighting poverty, parental attitudes, and socio-economic factors as primary causes of school dropout. Boys are more likely to leave school to contribute economically, while girls face additional cultural and domestic barriers.

CONCLUSION

School dropout in Jhalana Kacchi Basti is driven mainly by economic hardship and parental reluctance, with gender-specific factors influencing dropout reasons. Interventions to improve school retention must address financial barriers, enhance parental awareness, and integrate health services targeting this vulnerable group.

LIMITATIONS

The study’s findings are limited to one urban slum and may not be generalizable. Parental reluctance to disclose income and dropout reasons may have influenced data accuracy.

COFLICTS OF INTEREST: There are no conflicts of interest.

REFERENCES

1. Jyotirmayee Kar and Jyotsnamayee Kar et al. Educational Deprivation of Girls in Orissa, AJWS Vol. 8, No.4, 2002: 116-143
2. A Khokar et. Al. Determinants of Reasons of school dropouts amongst dwellers of an Urban Slum of Delhi, Ind. J. Com. Med., Vol. 30, No. 3 (2005-07 – 2005-09)
3. Addressing the High School Dropout Epidemic Policy Brief, The Centre for Business and Economic Research, 2002: 1-6
4. Nidhi Kotwal, Neelima and Sheetal Rani, Causes of School Dropouts among Rural Girls in Kathua District. J. Hum. Ecol., 22(1): 57-59 (2007): 1 – 3
5. B Maithly, Vartika Saxena, Adolescent‘s Educational Status and Reasons for Dropout from the School; Indian Journal of Community Medicine, Vol. 33, Issue 2, April 2008; 127-8
6. Aparna Mitra and Pooja Singh, Trends in Literacy Rates and Schooling among the Scheduled Tribe Women in India. Department of Economics, University of Oklahoma, USA; 1-25
7. Berg I. Absence from school and mental health. Br J Psychiatry. 1992;161:1154–66.
8. Berg I. School avoidance school phobia and truancy. In: Lewis M, editor. Child and adolescent psychiatry: A comprehensive textbook. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins; 1996. pp. 1104–10
9. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Report: http://ssa.nic.in/research/Report_Part_2.pdf;
10. Public Report on Basic Education (PROBE) 1996; http://www.ashanet.org/stats/PROBE.html
11. Addressing the High School Dropout Epidemic Policy Brief, The Centre for Business and Economic Research, 2002: 1-6