Drop-outs from School and How to Cope with this Problem

Abstract

The problem of school drop-out is a major one in Asia, which is home to two-thirds of the world’s illiterates. It is a region which contains more than half of the world’s population of six billion people, and where financial resources are spread very thinly when it comes to providing a good quality education for all regardless of the learner’s socio-economic background, gender, ethnicity, race, religion or geographical location. There are currently 74 million out-of-school children in the school-age population in Asia’s developing countries, mostly in South Asia. Of those who do enrol in school, at least one third abandon or drop out before completing the primary cycle. In the state of Rajasthan in India, which is referred to in detail in this article, the literacy rate is 55.1 per cent for males and 20.8 per cent for females. In terms of primary education, the overall drop-out rate among children in the 6 to 14-year-old age group is 64.7 per cent, while it rises to 72.5 per cent for girls.