High dropout: Heads of 40 Rawalpindi schools put on notice

Lack of facilities, internal migration and poverty are major factors of high dropout from schools.

RAWALPINDI: The Punjab Education Department instead of addressing the root causes of high dropouts from schools in Rawalpindi District has as usual adopted a bureaucratic course – issuing notices to the heads of institutes.

The Punjab Education Department’s latest move has created unrest among the teachers. The department has issued notices to 40 heads of Rawalpindi schools for high rate of dropout among students.

According to Rawalpindi District Education Department officials, around 60 per cent of the students dropped out from grade 9 during this year.

The dropout data is compiled by the Punjab Education Department.

Some teachers were of the view that the syllabus for grade 9 was too burdensome for an average student to pass in the first attempt.

Citing the course of Solo Taxonomy as an example, headmaster of a high school said, “The books in grade 9 cover even subjects that are currently being taught at higher secondary level”.

He said most students prefer to repeat grade 9 to get good overall marks in SSC, while the education department considers them as dropped out students.

“In the last academic session, we registered 73 students of which 43 appeared in grade 9 final exams. Rest of them repeated the academic session and only a few (actually) failed the exam or quit due to financial constraints,” the headmaster said.

He said that the education department’s re-allocation policy was another factor that caused the dropout.

“According to the [re-allocation] policy, there should not be more than two teachers at schools with less than 60 students. On the other hand, the two teachers have to attend more than 10 classes a day that affects their performance as well as the students in the exams,” the headmaster said.

Teachers and members of the Punjab Teachers Union maintain that there are other factors that led to dropout of students from schools.

Government Mission High School, Raja Bazaar Principal Dr Malik Muzaffar Khan said dropout had increased after the govt announced incentives for private institutes.

“The facilities being given to private schools are far better than those being given to public schools,” he said.

Besides, poverty is another major issue. “Students who fail in 9th class could not continue due to financial constraints and parents do not re-enroll them. They withdraw them from schools so that they can help them support their families,” he said.

He said teachers could not be held responsible for their poverty.

Khan also said that displacement and migration from city to city and province to province was another factor that led to the high rate of dropout.

“When parents move from one city to another they also take their children along with them,” he said.

Poor facilities at government schools are among the other factors.

Those who can afford take admission at private schools.

“Lack of basic facilities at government schools, poor results and extensive syllabus are among the few reasons that cause students dropout,” said Punjab Teachers Union general secretary Rana Liaquat.

He said that the teachers were being punished to discredit them and (since there are those who wish to) privatise the education department.

Executive District Officer Qazi Zahoorul Haq could not be reached for his comments.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2014.