Survey launched to find student dropouts and bring them back to school: Education Ministry
View(s):A survey to find school dropouts and take remedial action to get them back to their classes has been launched by the Education Ministry, a senior ministry official said.
Accordingly, within a month the Ministry will collect details of the dropouts, the reasons and try to resolve their issues so that they can get back to their studies.
The Ministry made this decision after it observed that the number of dropouts have been on the rise due to the lockdown and disruption of school activities.
Initial reports have revealed that some students who have dropped out from school and gained employment after sitting their G.C.E. (O/L) while some students dropped out as they failed to complete their online educational programmes.
However, the Ministry official said some students had dropped out after grade six as well.
“The school dropouts in the outstation areas are higher,” the official said.
He said if the children were not interested in continuing their education, the Ministry would also consider the option of vocational training.
An Education Ministry Additional Secretary has been placed with the responsibility of overseeing the survey.
The Institute of Policy Studies warned that the dropout rates could rise.
Wimal Nanayakkara, Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), said around one-fifth of poor children drop out of school after the age of 14 years and another-two thirds after the age of 16 years.
“With the closure of schools following the COVID-19 outbreak and the sudden shift to online learning, poor children with no access to e-learning opportunities risk falling even further behind,” he said.