A Study of Factors Affecting Boys’ Dropout

Abstract

School dropout is a major hindrance in attaining the goals of education in India. From time to time several policy pronouncements have been made, but it’s not yielding the desired outcome. Over a decade, the dropout rates for both boys and girls are reflecting a decreasing trend. Several reports reveal that more boys are now dropping out of schools, mainly at the primary level. As per a Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) report, the rate of dropout for boys in primary classes was 1.7 percent and that of girls was 1.2 percent. Similarly, the rate of dropout for boys in secondary classes was 18.3 percent which is higher than that of girls with 16.3 percent (TOI, Jul 2, 2021). In this context, attempts have been made to study the patterns of boys’ dropouts and to explore the nature of relationships among different familial and institutional factors with dropouts. This paper is based on the empirical study carried out in one of the most backward districts of West Bengal. A questionnaire on the school dropout factors having 24 items was designed and administered among 93 respondents. The items of the questionnaire were identified through a review of the extant literature. Frequency distribution and ordinal logistic regression were used to analyse the data. Results indicate that key determinants of dropouts are expiry of breadwinner, household works, personal health problems, lack of interest and failure in examinations in studies.