Dropout rate alarms education ministry

Efforts being made to allay fears of coronavirus spreading from schools

LAHORE:

A spike in the dropout rate of students from government primary schools has alarmed the government, prompting it to consider measures to stop the situation from deteriorating further.

The authorities have decided to provide meals free of cost to the students of selected schools in addition to the textbooks and education being offered without fee. The step is aimed at increasing the interest of the children as well as their parents in their school attendance.

However, the provincial education department appears unable to pursue an aggressive school enrolment campaign in the prevailing

circumstances.

Efforts are being made to allay the fears of the students and their parents about the spread of coronavirus from the schools.

However, the teachers as well as parents also appear helpless as a number of children who discontinued education during the period in which the schools remained shut have been forced to contribute to their families' income. Now the parents of such children ate hesitant to send them back to schools.

There are about 54,000 government schools in Punjab with more than 10.6 million students. The dropout rate of students of primary classes is usually about 50%. About half of the eight million children studying in 38,000 primary schools leave the education system before reaching the elementary level. Another 20% students drop out at the later stage.

The main reason for the high dropout rate is poverty.

Although education along with textbooks is offered free of charge to both boys and girls up to the 10th class in government schools, the parents from poor background don't agree to enrol their children in them.

It is a matter of concern that the dropout rate from schools is increasing not only for in backward areas but also in the major cities of Punjab, Lahore.

The dropout rate in urban areas has increased from 10% to 25%.

The problem has aggravated because of the fear of coronavirus and the financial hardship caused by inflation. In the past few months, more than a million children have left the schools.

The schools education ministry, while launching the admission campaign, resolved that the children who had abandoned their studies

should be brought back to schools after their reopening following the coronavirus lockdown.

Punjab School Education Minister Dr Murad Raas has set a target of one million admissions in the province.

Replying to questions about meeting the target, he said the ministry would strive to reach the goal in the next five months, but it might take longer.

He said free food was also being given to the children in the primary schools of the rural and urban areas facing poverty.

Initially, more than 100 schools of Lahore have been selected where lunch is being provided to students.

On the other hand, the school administrators and teachers also appear pessimistic about meeting the admissions target.

A leader of the Punjab Teachers Union, Rana Liaqat Ali, said the target of the admissions campaign in urban areas, including more than 1,100 government schools in Lahore, had been set at over 300,000. However, the schools have the capacity to admit fewer students in the morning and evening shifts.

He said the number of children who had dropped out of the schools out of fear of the coronavirus would be covered gradually. Amid the increasing cost of living, parents can not be pressed send their children to school while enduring hunger, he added.

Waheed Sheikh, the parent of a child of school going age, said the pandemic had cost many people their jobs, forcing other family members, including children, to seek employment to make ends meet. He insisted that many educated youth in the country were unemployed and it was better to find employment for the kids than educating them.

When asked about his plight, a child said he wanted to study but his father was unemployed.