SCHOOL DROPOUT: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES AND CHARACTERISTICS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The dropout is the phenomenon in which the student stops attending classrooms and stays out of school without receiving title of schooling. This phenomenon is usually seen in Latin America, since it is a region with high dropout rates.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), school dropout has some main causes: malnourished children or those who are forced to go to work thanks to the poor environment, social exclusion or schools with reduced capacity.

School dropout is especially evident in underdeveloped and developing countries, where the phenomenon is observed between the last years of primary and secondary school. In industrialized nations, dropout occurs in tertiary education or university studies.

It is estimated that about 50 million young people in Latin America have not been able to complete their studies.

Types

School dropout can be classified as follows:

According to the duration (temporary or permanent)

There are students who return to classrooms after a period, while others leave the system permanently.

According to the scope

In some cases, the dropout due to the transfer of a student to another educational facility is not given entirely. However, this phenomenon should be the object of study for these institutions.

According to the moment in which it occurs

This depends on the trajectory that the student has made and the educational level that he has reached: preschool, primary, secondary, middle or university.

Causes

The desertion finds different causes that explain the phenomenon. The two main causes are in-school and out-of-school.

Intra school

They have to do with the causes or internal factors of the student. Among them, the following stand out:

- Behavior problems.

- Learning problems.

- Emotional disorders.

- Lack of motivation and / or interest.

- Active social life after school activities.

- Little identification with the school.

- Low performance.

- Repetition. This particular factor has been increasing over time. The increase in the number intensifies, especially in the high school years. It may have to do with the lack of adaptation from primary to secondary school.

Extra school

In this category, causes of an external nature converge, ranging from the socioeconomic to the family.

- Labor insertion. Due to the economic problems of the family nucleus, the student finds himself in the need to work and, therefore, abandon his studies.

- Pregnancy.

- Parents have low expectations regarding academic training.

- Parents who have not received an education.

- Lack of fixed residence.

- Insufficient household income.

- Schools located at great distances. In view of this, children have to travel several kilometers to reach their destination. This affects regular class attendance.

- The desertion of other relatives.

- Little conversation about school.

Other causes

- Teachers. In a first aspect, the poor working conditions in which teachers find themselves have an impact on dropout. There is also a lack of training and preparation for them.

- Low allocation to the school budget, which affects the sufficiency of school supplies as well as the conditions of schools and public institutions.

- Gang.

- Bullying or bullying.

- Gender stereotypes.

- Problems regarding age, cultural or socioeconomic and ethnic level.

Consequences

- School dropout will have a great impact on human capital, since it negatively affects social, economic and political processes in terms of the projection of a country's development.

- They generate high social and private costs because they lead to the recruitment of a less qualified workforce.

- For the State it is also costly since it is obliged to carry out and finance social programs.

- Those who are outside the educational system are part of unemployed and socially excluded groups. In addition to this, these people can be part of criminal and violent groups.

- Increase in social inequalities, which generates a lack of integration between individuals.

- The lack of education prevents men and women from having the possibility of escaping from poverty because they do not have the mental or physical capacities to aspire to a stable and well-paid job.

- Decrease in the development of economies.

Signs of dropping out

Although the causes and consequences are clear, it is believed that it is possible to manage school dropout at the moment in which the signs that indicate that this phenomenon could be triggered are detected.

This is mainly due to the fact that school dropout is considered as a cumulative process of three key signs:

- Absenteeism.

- Deviant behaviors.

- Performance.

With attention to these elements it will be easier for teachers, parents and representatives to make an intervention on time.

School dropout in Mexico

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) indicated in 2002 that Mexico was among the countries with the highest dropout rate, although in recent years the figure has drastically decreased.

Some of the characteristics that are manifested are the following:

- The level with the highest dropout rates is the upper middle school. In fact, the figures are distributed as follows: primary has 0.5%, secondary has 4.2%, upper secondary has 12.1% and higher education has 6.8%.

- The main factors of school dropout in the country are early pregnancy, failure and the assignment of an unwanted shift for studies. Another cause that follows closely has to do with a lack of motivation and the assumption that studies are of little use.

- Another relevant factor is the increase in enrollment in non-compulsory education, which affects the inability to pay for enrollment and the acquisition of school supplies.

- The lack of preparation of teachers in indigenous languages ​​also means the lack of literacy for those communities.

- Rural areas are those with the highest dropout rate.

- Mexico is believed to be one of the countries that invests the least amount of the national budget in education.

- The states with the highest school attendance are Sonora and the Federal District. The states with the highest dropouts are Michoacán and Chiapas.

- In view of the fact that dropout occurs mostly at the upper secondary level, it is estimated that it is necessary to establish more attractive and varied educational offers.

- There is no culture of equal opportunities between men and women. Therefore, it is the latter that represent the highest dropout rate.

Prevention programs in Latin America to avoid school dropouts

In Latin America and Mexico there are a variety of institutions that seek to stop the advance of school dropouts in the region, in order to guarantee an educational plurality and work in order to train individuals who, in the future, will be an important economic force for their countries.

Some of the main programs that have been started are the following:

Conditional cash transfers

These are programs that began in Brazil and Mexico in the 1990s and have had a great influence on the rest of the region.

This initiative seeks to ensure that children of less affluent families can enroll and attend classes regularly. The ultimate goal is to keep them within the educational system.

Acceleration of learning

This program was first developed in Brazil, although it expanded to Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and El Salvador.

Acceleration of learning is designed for children and adolescents who have exceeded the age corresponding to the course in which they have to be for content. The idea is to ensure that they have access to these subjects through an accelerated process. In this way they will reach the level at which, by age, they should study.

I do not abandon

It is an initiative that was born in Mexico and in which both federal and state institutions participate. It also includes educational institutions, parents, teachers, students and any member of society who wishes to participate.

The objective of the program is to reduce dropouts at the upper secondary level. To achieve this, they use workshops, manuals, presentations and planning to help the participants.

I'm in

It is a proposal born in Costa Rica that seeks to address the signs of school dropout risk (absenteeism, deviant behaviors and performance), through activities that range from macro to other micro actions, according to the needs and requirements of the students.

Inclusive schools

One of the factors of school dropout has to do with the lack of opportunities between the genders. Inclusive schools seeks to ensure that both male and female students can be part of an educational program that guarantees a quality education.

Other initiatives

There are also flexible education programs, which include non-conventional school models and processes that seek to increase access opportunities at all educational levels.

Two initiatives stand out: the Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation, and the Icaro Project (Project Incentives Conditional on Access and Timely Retention).

References

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4. School dropout: evolution, causes and relationship with the rate of completion of basic education. (sf). In the Ministry of Education of Peru. Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In the Ministry of Education of Peru from escale.minedu.gob.pe.
5. Moreno, Teresa. (2017). School dropout, unstoppable: SEP. At The Univesal. Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In El Universal de eluniversal.com.mx.
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