School Dropout an Evil, who is Socially Responsible? A Study

Abstract

School Dropout is a serious social evil which when unattended will have a long run impact in all the sphere of the society. This particular issue should be given utmost importance by the teachers in schools and parents and elders in families. The stakeholders should play a pro-active role in dealing with this problem. The major reason of dropout is widely hinted at the economic backwardness of the school children. Apart from this cause there are many other causes ranging from issues in the family, at home and even in schools, liking and disliking of schools and teachers also contribute to the cause of dropout. This issue of dropout has become more serious especially after the disaster of Tsunami in 2004. The issue of dropout has to be viewed in a different angle in fishing / coastal villages. The fishing occupation is no doubt a risky job but it has been lucrative. High lucrative in this profession is positively correlated with the investment in mechanised boats and fish nets. The scenario of this dropout problem took an ugly turn post Tsunami. Post Tsunami, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction was well undertaken by the Government in a very large scale and equally by the Third Sector (NGOs). The relief was also in the form of Mechanised & Fibre Boat (FRB) distributed by many NGO. Prior to Tsunami the number of FRB was very less in number, so the labour force required was also minimal. The number of FRB increased post tsunami which resulted in labour shortage. This also paved way for the entry of children in the profession of fishing saying goodbye to studies. Was this the starting point of School Dropout? At the backdrop of this scenario, the present research has been undertaken. The present research has taken care to highlight the socio-economic profile of the dropouts in the coastal/fishing villages of Karaikal District, Union Territory of Puducherry. The results support the following statement that “Disaster has a direct bearing on the Education of Children”.