Factors Affecting the School Dropout in Rajasthan: A Study Based on NSSO Data

Abstract

Education is the basic requirement for human development. With education, employment opportunities are broadened and income levels are increased. Each welfare state attempts to achieve this goal through universalizing literacy and ensuring the quality of education. As a result, some improvement also observed in Rajasthan in term of literacy rate between 2001 to 2011. The challenge of ‘Education for All’ is still substantial, especially for some section of society. Despite the government’s efforts for education, the phenomenon of school dropouts remains a blot on the progress of education not only in India but also in most the states including with the Rajasthan. Present study is an attempt to understand the differentials and determinant of school dropouts in Rajasthan by analyzing the NSSO 64th Round (2007-08) data on education. We applied cross tabulation and logistic regression techniques to identify the factor which determine the school dropouts among children age 5-29 years. It was found that only 59% of the children in the age group 5 to 29 years are currently attending school. Differential in school dropout are observed not only with socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of household but also with the school infrastructure. Results shows that gender differentials are different in case of Rajasthan as girls are less likely to dropout than boys. Gender and age of children, Residence, caste, monthly household expenditure and the distance from the school are emerged as strong determinant of school dropout in Rajasthan. Therefore, Government needs to special focus on these areas in its education policy and programme in order to overcome with the dropout problem among the children.

Keywords: Education, Rajasthan, School Enrolment, Dropout, NSSO, Logistic Regression