The School Survival Story 3 JULY 2012

1. The School Survival Story 3 JULY 2012 Life choices – ‘Exist in school’ versus ‘Exit from school’

2. Background • DISE data for 2009-10 provides the following figures as the retention rate for primary level (class V): • 84.6, 75.9, 53.7 & 80.6 for Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan & Uttarakhand respectively (National avg:74.01) • Many studies point out that grade retention / survival rate is abysmally poor in India: • ‘Only 66 per cent of the children enrolled in Grade I survive to Grade V in India, that is, as much as 34 per cent of the children enrolled in Grade I drop out before reaching Grade V’ (‘EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010’ -UNESCO) • Surveys also indicate that only about 40% of those enrolled in class I get to complete class X • In many cases, the indicator on ‘survival rate to the last primary grade’ data is not available for India • Necessitating a study of our own

3. The Study • Objective: • Find the ‘retention / survival rate’ in the districts we work in • Understand why children ‘leave’ school? • Identify what keeps children in school • Get an insight into aspirations of school going children • Methodology: • Data from school records • Structured interview schedule • One-on-one interviews • True cohort method • Sampling: • 7 Districts across 4 States • 50 schools per District; randomized sampling • Class 5 cohorts from 2004-05 batch to 2009-10 batch

4. Sample • In all States except Karnataka the sample was from two districts • These were the number of children in class V cohorts from the attendance registers of the sample schools • The cohorts for each of the five years is approximately 20% of the sample • In an ideal case scenario of cent percent survival rate the entire 2004-05 cohort should have been in class X in 2010 when the study was undertaken & in comparison the 2008-09 cohort in class VI

5. Sample categories • Uttarakhand is the only State with more girls in the sample • Rajasthan has the most skewed sex ratio • OBCs make the largest group of children in the sample across all the States • All States have more SCs than STs except Karnataka • Minority children are negligible in Gujarat & Rajasthan samples

6. Basic data • 87% of the children from the 5 cohorts were traced & thereby their progress tracked • Of the children we were unable to find, almost all had permanently migrated from the habitat along with their family and some of them had either ‘passed away’ or no contact could be established with their families • In 56% of the cases one of the parents provided the information regarding the child’s current status & in another 11% of the cases an older sibling gave us the required information • In nearly 30% of the cases the children themselves were interviewed by us

7. ‘Exist’ versus ‘Exit’ • Nearly a quarter of the students traced from the cohorts had left school • The figure varied from State to State & even within State from one district to another • Karnataka cohorts reported the maximum ‘exit’ from the school system and at the other end Uttarakhand figure was half that of Karnataka’s • In all States except Gujarat, between 45 to 55% left school at class V level & in all the States less than 3% had left school after reaching class IX • In Gujarat maximum number of children had left school at class VII

8. Reasons for exiting from school • Around 35% of the children currently not in school cited either disinterest in studies or domestic duty (parents chose ‘disinterest’ & children said ‘domestic duty’) • ‘Poverty’ was the next big reason & the figure varied from about 10% in Gujarat to 34% in Uttarakhand; overall figures for poverty / economic reason stood at around 15% • About 10% reported that school being far away was the reason they stopped going to school & in Gujarat the figure stood at nearly 17% (probably explaining the high exit at class VII level) • Of the remaining, most of them cited some form of work as the reason for leaving school & about 5% gave marriage as the reason (yes, they were 15 year olds!)

9. Life after ‘exit’ from school • Nearly 75% of those who had left school said that they were currently working (either as casual labour, in agriculture activities or on domestic duty) • In spite of being out of school, many of them continue to live in hope of having a professional career in the army & some even as doctors & engineers • It is probably these dreams & desires that make many of them live with the hope of getting back into school; 17% of those who are out of school evinced interest to go back into school (In Uttarakhand nearly a quarter of them said they would like to go back to school – important to note that a large percentage from Uttarakhand reported poverty as the reason for dropping out) • Some of the reasons given for wanting to join back were poignant – ‘like to sit on the chair once again’, ‘want to be happy in the future’, ‘there are no worries / tensions about other things while studying’, ‘being in the company of friends’ & so on…

10. Life ‘in’ school • Of those continuing to study, 90% were satisfied with their schooling • Half the students wanted to study maximum up to class XII & look for a job post that; of the remaining 50%, nearly 20% wanted to do a B.A or M.A. & only 2% indicated a science course & a percent only said they want to pursue commerce • It is interesting to note that the number of children who wanted to study engineering or medicine was the same amongst those who were continuing to study & those who had left school; the difference however was in the variety of jobs that the children who were continuing to study listed - they mentioned almost 50 different kinds of jobs they would like to do

11. The school survival story: 2004-05 cohort – 60% have survived everything & continue to exist in a formal school system; however of them only half have reached the appropriate class (class X), and the rest have fallen behind…….but every single one of them continue to dream of a better future….the beauty is that not only those who exist in school, but even those who have exited from school continue to live in the hope of better future & dreaming a wonderful dream………… 11

12. Dedicated to all those children who.. ..dare to dream a better future in spite of all adversaries 12

13. Thank you! A Dream of a Just, Equitable, Humane and Sustainable Society 13