By YesPakistan.com Staff Writer

If the Pakistani government wants to increase literacy and numeracy rates, it must urgently address the problem of primary school dropouts. On an individual basis, the reasons for dropping out vary, but generally there are two main categories of factors that lead to this problem: out-of-school and in-school.

The main out-of-school reason for leaving primary school is financial. Pakistani studies have shown poverty to be the main reason forcing children out of school. One 1977 study indicated that 79 percent of dropouts are from low-income households.

In these families, children also play the role of breadwinner. Changes in labor market conditions or household composition can mean the indirect costs of education are now higher or the direct costs cannot be met. Children must work to support their families or their families can no longer afford to send them to school.

The main in-school factor contributing to dropping out is low learning achievement. Some children repeatedly fail and so stay in the same grade year after year. Such repetition reduces the benefits of schooling and the lengthening of the school cycle increases the costs of education.

Corporal punishment is another much-cited in-school reason for dropping out. In 1989, 52 percent of Pakistani teachers were found to use physical punishment with their students.

Such was the case for Clanelius Ishaq, a nine-year-old from Rahim Yar Khan, who decided to drop out. Clanelius wanted out of an environment that was neither rich nor stimulating and where he had to endure physical punishment. He left school one day and never returned. Even sadder was the fact that his teacher never bothered to find out why he left nor did he try to encourage Clanelius to come back. Neither did his parents. Instead, his father bought a number of goats and gave Clanelius his first full-time job: as a shepherd.

However, after the Human Development Foundation, a US-based NGO established a non-formal school in his area which did not use physical punishment and had a strong curriculum, Clanelius returned to school and remains there today, as one of its brightest students.

Mitigating out-of-school factors that contribute to high dropout rates requires a wide range of policies and actions that focus on poverty reduction through income generation and other methods. However, dealing with in-school factors does not require as much effort. Two important ways of dealing with or even eliminating in-school factors are first, to improve the quality of the schools and curricula, and second, train teachers to use methods that engage children in learning and help them gain high academic achievement.

In the long run, reducing dropout rates results in a decrease in both the direct and opportunity costs of primary schooling. This in turn increases enrolments and is an important step in achieving universal primary education in Pakistan.

Date/Time Last Modified: 6/17/2002 3:44:54 PM

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