Study for Reasons for Drop Out at Elementary Level District Report: Mungeli May 2014 1 Acknowledgements The team at Ernst & Young LLP would like to thank the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT), Chhattisgarh for providing us the opportunity to carry out this study. The study itself would be a mere shadow of its current form and depth had we not received guidance and support from officials at SCERT and the education officers at the Blocks and Circles covered under the study. We would also like to thank the head teachers and staff at the various schools we visited for extending their full cooperation and support. Without their keen interest we would not have been able to deliver the quality required to make this work product meaningful and actionable. Last but not the least, we would like to express our gratitude for the parents and children who took out time to interact with us and showed us the path to deciphering the reasons why students are dropping out of schools. On this note, we would like to dedicate this report to the students who have dropped out of the formal schooling system in Chhattisgarh and hope our findings and our suggestions/recommendations would enable the state to bring them back to school. 2 Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 6 1. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................................ 10 1.11.11.1 CONTEXT FOR THE STUDSTUDYYYY ............................................................................................................................ 10 1.21.21.2 RARARATIONALERA TIONALE FOR THE STUDSTUDYYYY ......................................................................................................................... 12 1.31.31.3 TERMS OF REFERENCE ............................................................................................................................... 12 1.41.41.4 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................... 13 1.51.51.5 LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 14 2. REASONS FOR DDROPROP OUT ................................................................................................................................ 26 3. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 42 4. RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 44 3 List of Figures Figure 1: Socio-cultural profile of students enrolled at government schools in Mungeli .................................................................... 16 Figure 2: Geographic distribution of government schools in Mungeli ................................................................................................ 17 Figure 3: Percentage of teachers with required/relevant professional qualifications ......................................................................... 17 Figure 4: Percentage of schools that organized SMC meeting(s) during the previous academic year .............................................. 18 Figure 5: Percentage of schools not visited by BRCs during the previous academic year ................................................................ 18 Figure 6: Percentage of schools subjected to academic inspections ................................................................................................ 19 Figure 7: State of sanitation infrastructure at school visited as a part of the study ............................................................................ 20 Figure 8: Students opinion of the efforts being invested by their teachers ........................................................................................ 22 Figure 9: Percentage of schools holding remedial classes for academically weak students ............................................................. 25 Figure 10: Reasons for dropouts ...................................................................................................................................................... 26 Figure 11: Reasons for sending children to school ........................................................................................................................... 27 Figure 12: Parents perception of their child’s progress against the goals that they had set for him/her ............................................ 28 Figure 13: Parents educational status/profile ................................................................................................................................... 28 Figure 14: Gender disaggregated reasons for sending children to school ........................................................................................ 29 Figure 15: Father’s educational qualification vis-à-vis the mother’s educational qualification ........................................................... 29 Figure 16: Prevalent educational qualification amongst girls (below eighteen year of age) in the community ................................... 30 Figure 17: Average monthly income at households covered under the study ................................................................................... 30 Figure 18: Percentage of families with a financial safety net in place to deal with income shocks .................................................... 31 Figure 19: Percentage of families migrating during lean season ...................................................................................................... 31 Figure 20: Percentage of families that reported that their children had dropped out to contribute to the family income ..................... 32 Figure 21: Percentage of families that reported that their children had dropped out to help out with domestic chores and responsibilities ................................................................................................................................................................................. 33 Figure 22: Domestic discord resulting in child dropping out of school ............................................................................................... 33 Figure 23: Peer group influence as a cause of dropout .................................................................................................................... 34 Figure 24: Percentage of households reporting that classes are held as per schedule ..................................................................... 35 Figure 25: Percentage of households visited by teachers when the child dropped out ..................................................................... 36 Figure 26: Percentage of households reporting that the school organizes parent teacher meetings (PTM) ...................................... 37 Figure 27: Percentage of households where children are able to manage their homework .............................................................. 37 Figure 28: Percentage of families reporting that their children liked going to school (when enrolled) ................................................ 38 Figure 29: Percentage of families reporting instances of discriminatory incidents/behavior at schools ............................................. 39 Figure 30: Percentage of families reporting that teachers still give corporal punishment .................................................................. 39 Figure 31: Percentage of families reporting that their child is asked to take care of chores at school ............................................... 39 Figure 32: Inadequate Infrastructure as a factor contributing to student dropout .............................................................................. 40 Figure 33: Infrastructure inadequacy as reported by families of children who have dropped out of school ....................................... 40 List of Tables Table 1: Socio-demographic profile – district snapshot .................................................................................................................... 15 Table 2: Educational profile – district snapshot ................................................................................................................................ 19 4 List of abbreviations Abbreviation Explanation CWSN Children with Special Needs Ed.CIL Educational Consultants India Limited FGDs Focus Group Discussions GDP Gross Domestic Product MoHRD Ministry of Human Resource Development OBC Other Backward Classes PTMs Parent Teacher Meetings RTE Right to Education SC Scheduled Caste SCERT State Council for Educational and Training SMC School Management Committee SSA SarvaSikshaAbhiyan ST Scheduled Tribe TOR Terms of Reference - 5 Executive Summary Background Education provides individuals with the opportunity