Education Minister Shaik Baksh has reported that the school drop-out rates at both primary and secondary schools have declined by 50 percent in the past five years.
Speaking at a recent forum, Baksh pointed out that the drop-out rate at secondary schools declined from 12 percent in 2005 to 5.5 percent in 2010. The drop-out rate has been on a consistently downward trend, moving from 12 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2006. It declined further to nine percent in 2007. The rate remained stable at six percent in 2008 and 2009, but dropped to 5.5 percent in 2010.
Education Minister Shaik Baksh
At the primary level, the drop-out rate has also declined over the past five years, moving from four percent in 2005 to two percent in 2010. During this period, the rate fluctuated from four percent in 2005 to 4.6 percent in 2006, but declined to four percent in 2007. The rate further declined to 3.35 percent in 2008, but increased to 3.65 percent in 2009 before dropping to two percent in 2010.
Baksh credited the decline in the secondary school drop-out rate to mainly the redesign of the curriculum to give more attention to the technical and vocational education.
Through this initiative, the ministry has introduced the Secondary School Competency Certificate Programme (SCCP), an initiative designed to stem school drop-outs and ensure secondary school students are adequately prepared for the world of work. Under the programme, students are given the opportunity to take courses in language and communication, Mathematics, Integrated Science and General Studies, Agriculture Science, Industrial Technology, Home Economics, and Visual Arts.
The goal of the programme is to provide students who are not academically inclined with an opportunity to learn a skill that will make them employable. Students on completion of the programme can also work privately. The intention, Baksh said, is to ensure that every child in the school system receives an education, has the right mindset and is able to make a meaningful contribution to society.
Recently, some 758 students throughout the country graduated from the programme at a ceremony held at the National Cultural Centre. Last year, the number was 502. The minister also pointed out that the decline in the dropout rates at both primary and secondary schools indicate that parents are taking more interest in their children’s education and government’s interventions such as the school feeding and school uniform programmes, the truancy campaigns, among other supportive interventions, are bearing fruit.
