Socio-demographic Characteristics of School Dropouts in Mahbubnagar District of Telangana State, India

Abstract

Free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of fourteen years is the commitment of the Constitution of India. The governments of India and state governments have initiated a number of programmes to achieve the goal of universalization of elementary education. Among them Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is the recent addition. According to the handbook of education statistics (2013-14), 38.2 per cent of children in the state who had enrolled in Class I did not reach Class X and were thus, deprived of basic education. To improve retention in government schools, understanding the socio-demographic characteristics of the parents of school dropout children would be advantageous. For the purposes of the study, a field survey was conducted in 18 villages of six rural Mandals of Mahbubnagar district with a sample of 401 respondents. Study finding revealed that both boys and girls in the age group of six to 18 years were equally vulnerable to dropouts. About 90 per cent of the school dropout children were from the government schools and three in five children in the age group of 15 to 18 years were dropped out from the school.