Factors those Compel Children to drop out from appearing the 10th Board examination in Odisha

The 10th board exam in Odisha has started and as per the report around 15000 students have dropped out from appearing the final examination. Though they had filled the form to appear the exam they decided otherwise. The number is not official yet; however, I feel this is also under reported. The subject matter specialists have started identifying the reasons behind this and the concerned minister has also said that they shall make door to door survey to identify the reasons behind this.

However, few years back while I was working with the tribals of Odisha, I had observed few major reasons of dropout at each stage. And if the system is serious then, they need to attend these as well as whatever the other reasons they identify.

Till date the tribal way of life is different than others and they have their own set of challenges to address. The independent India’s effort to reach them and change them have not significantly worked.

Age at Education: In many cases the education is not age appropriate for them at all. This is a very tough situation. I have observed the village kids go to the village primary schools till grade 5 and then as there is no school in the village, most of them go to residential schools. In residential schools the authorities rarely admit them in grade 6. They say they are not good enough for that grade so, they start somewhere from grade 2 0r 3 again. By the time they reach grade 9 or 10, they reach the age of 18-19. That means they are ready for marriage, work and so on. So, we see the drop out. But many of them drop out from school quite earlier as they get biological maturity by the time they enter standard 5-6 again. They prefer to stay back at home rather than coming to school fully grown up. Till 2012, I have met many such children in Malkangiri and other tribal areas.

Value of education for them: In 2007, I went to Malkangiri to work on child development and community development among the tribal communities. When we started interacting with the children and I asked the students about their future, most of them said that they want to become anganwadi Didi, School Peon, few said they want to become police and teachers. Children imbibe what they see, not what you teach only. You ask the same questions to children of other plain land and coastal areas, they will start with Collector, Doctor, engineer etc. I am not disrespecting any job or nature of work here. But we know which is a lucrative job. In reality they see many youths and middle-aged people doing farming or labour work after some education. They don’t visualize that education can help them to come out of the vicious circle of poverty. Those who study and get engaged in good jobs, rarely return to the villages and children don’t see them much. Mostly they don’t see what difference the education can make in their lives. In such a scenario expecting them to continue education and studies is not really practical.

Early marriage: By the time they get eligible for appearing matriculation examination many of them get married considering their marriage system as well as age. I am not saying many do child marriage, but most of them go for early marriage.

Engagement in work: Poverty is the major reason of dropout and dropout leads to poverty. The poor people who don’t get enough to eat and mostly survive with the government provisions, cannot think of education. The students become capable of earning a livelihood by the time they become eligible to appear the board examination or even before that. Many of them get into farming and other labour related work to support the family income. And once they start earning, they don’t look back to the studies and this is a very natural tendency.

Preparation for the examination: We accept or not, the education standard of the children is not good as they rarely get quality education in schools. And in difficult areas getting private tutor is a challenge and paying the fees is another constraint. So, many of these students cannot prepare themselves adequately for the board examination. With a fear of failing many of them don’t feel confident to appear the examinations.

What after 10th exam: This is a very pertinent question. While visiting some villages of Kankadahada (Dhenkanal) and Telkoi, (Keonjhar) blocks, I found many girls are not doing anything after completing their matriculation. They had scored very less marks and had applied for college education through online as per the process. The colleges where they were selected are very far from their villages. Further their financial as well as some other cultural constraints did not allow them to go there. I saw there was a small college in their locality which was started by some of the villagers. The purpose was to provide an opportunity to the children to study near to their home. I asked, why you did not try for this college. The girls said in online system we were not selected for this college and based on our marks we were selected for other colleges. Similarly, the same might have happened with some other students of far-off villages who must have been selected for this college. The very purpose of ensuring secondary education at every doorstep got defeated here and neither the college are having enough students, nor the local students are getting the scope to study. If this is the situation, can we expect the students to appear the 10th exam who are confused with the question of what after this?

It's high time for government and concerned department to look into these challenges. When the world is moving towards use of AI, many of our children are still deprived of basic education and that is a national shame for all of us.?