The Problem of Dropping Out from Public Secondary Schools

Subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan, Jhelum

The secondary school dropouts in Pind Dadan Khan were described as those pupils who completely stopped attending class 9 or 10, had no intention to go back to school, had not appeared in the annual board exams (or appeared but failed), and did not obtain their secondary school certificate by the age of 16.

In 2012-13, the Pind Dadan Khan subdivision had 36 secondary schools (18 for boys and 18 for girls). It had two higher secondary schools for boys and, in addition to classes 9 and 10, they also offered classes 11 and 12. From these 38 schools, data was collected on the numbers of dropped out children from classes 9 and 10 for the academic years 2011-12 and 2012-13. These data were gathered with the help of the Executive District Education Officer (see Chapter Four). Out of these schools, 33 schools (15 for girls and 18 for boys) filed the required dropout data. Table 5.1 shows the trends of dropping out in this subdivision.

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Table 5.1 Dropping Out and Return to School Trends in Public Secondary Schools in the Subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan during Academic Years 2011-12 & 2012-13

Classes /Year Total

enrolment No. of dropouts Dropping out %* No. return to schools Return to school %** Class 9

2011-12 3596 461 12.82 78 16.92

Class 10

2012-13 3037 383 12.61 72 18.80

Overall 6633 844 12.72 150 17.75

Source: Field data

*Dropping out percentage = number of total dropouts/total enrolments × 100

**Return to school percentage = number of total returns to school/total dropouts × 100

The total secondary school enrolment for both boys and girls was 6,633 during the academic years 2011-12 and 2012-13 in the subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan, Jhelum. Out of this total enrolment, 844 children dropped out of school before completing their secondary schooling. According to the official records of the schools, the total dropout rate at secondary level was 12.72 percent in the research area during 2011-12 and 2012-13; less than the national and district levels. The national rural secondary school dropout rate was 14.5 percent in Pakistan and it was the same at district level in Jhelum (ASER, 2013).

The data were officially reported by the public secondary schools located in the subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan. However, as discussed in the previous chapter, the actual rate of dropout was much higher than filed by the schools. Long-term absentees were not recorded as dropouts in the official records despite the teachers knowing they would never return to school; this was because of the strict non-deregistration public policy. The government takes punitive measures against schools with a higher dropout rate, which includes punishing the head teachers by demoting and transferring them and curtailing their annual increments (Mughal & Aldridge, 2017).

The schools recorded some dropped-in students, although they had never recorded these as having dropped out in the past; they were actually long-term absentee pupils who had returned to school during the year. The teachers and heads teachers claimed that they had returned to school because of their efforts, such as motivation and providing them with financial support from their own pockets and so on. Table 5.2 shows trends of dropping out for boys from the public secondary schools in the research area.

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Table 5.2 Dropping Out and Return to School Trends for Boys in Public Secondary Schools in the Subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan during Academic Years 2011-12 & 2012-13

Classes /

Year Total enrolment No. of dropouts Dropping out %* No. who return to school Return to school %** Class 9

2011-12 2261 393 17.38 77 19.59

Class 10

2012-13 1789 348 19.45 56 16.09

Overall 4050 741 18.30 133 17.95

Source: Field data

*Dropping out percentage = number of total dropouts/total enrolments × 100 **Return to school percentage = number of total returns to school pupils/total dropouts × 100

Table 5.2 above shows the rate of dropout and return to school for boys in public secondary schools in the research area. According to the given data, the public secondary schools in the subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan faced the same dropout problem as other rural areas in Pakistan. During the period 2011-12 and 2012-13, the total enrolment of boys in classes 9 and 10 was 4,050. Of this, 17.38 percent and 19.45 percent dropped out from classes 9 and 10 respectively; the overall dropout rate from secondary classes for boys was 18.30 percent. The secondary school dropout rate for boys in the subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan was higher than at the district and national levels.

Furthermore, the return to school rate was higher in class 9 compared to class 10. Out of the total dropouts, the overall return to school rates for males was 17.95 percent. The reported data further showed that almost 80 percent of dropped out males from class 9 and 84 percent from class 10 never returned to school during academic years 2011-12 and 2012-13 in the subdivision Pind Dadan Khan.Table 5.3 shows the dropping out and return to school trends for girls in the public secondary schools in the subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan during the academic years 2011-12 and 2012-13.

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Table 5.3 Dropping Out and Return to School Trends for Girls in Public Secondary Schools in the Subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan during Academic Years 2011-12 & 2012-13

Classes /

Year Total enrolment No. of dropouts Dropping out %* No. of return to schools Return to school %** Class 9

2011-12 1335 68 5.09 1 1.47

Class 10

2012-13 1248 35 2.80 16 45.71

Overall 2583 103 4.0 17 16.50

Source: Field data

*Dropping out percentage = number of total dropouts/total enrolments × 100

**Return to school percentage = number of total returns to school pupils/total dropouts × 100

Table 5.3 shows the secondary school dropout and re-enrolment trends for girls in Pind Dadan Khan, Jhelum. The total enrolment of girls in classes 9 and 10 was 2,583 during the academic years 2011-12 and 2012-13, of which 5.09 percent of girls dropped out from class 9 and 2.8 percent from class 10. Overall, the secondary school dropout rate for girls was 4 percent, whereas this rate was 18.3 percent for boys during the same period. With the provision that the data is imprecise, this finding indicates that girls are more likely to complete secondary schooling in this subdivision. This further implies that girls have better chances of completing secondary education in the remote rural areas because they are not exposed to the local job markets due to pressure of cultural norms and traditions. Usually, they remain within the house and find enough time to study and complete homework.

The data also show that the return to school rate for dropped out girls was higher in class 10 and lower in class 9, compared to the boys’ return to school rate in both classes. It was clear that almost 98.5 percent of the girls did not return to school when they dropped out of class 9. However, the return to school rate for girls in class 10 was 45.71 percent, which meant that almost 46 percent of the girls returned to school after dropping out of class 10, provided the schools had given accurate statistics.

It further shows that the tendency of return to school for girls was higher in class 10. There could be many possible reasons for this trend; for example, some girls may find secondary classes more difficult, get married, cannot afford travel costs or simply they fail class 9 and lose interest in their studies. On the other hand, progression to class 10 may encourage girls to complete their secondary education. Furthermore, some girls and their families may be able to control the reasons for dropping out in the short term and return to school to finish their secondary school certificate. Sometimes, the parents and the girls themselves want to complete

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secondary schooling in order to find better suitors for their marriages. There may be some other drivers to completing secondary schooling, such as a desire to seek college education, pursue a dream career or wish for better job prospects and so on.

The male and female teachers and heads of schools reported various reasons for dropping out from the public secondary schools in the subdivision of Pind Dadan Khan, district Jhelum. These are discussed in the next section.