School dropouts – Extent of the problem

The study was conducted in Haryana state by selecting two districts namely Hisar and Sonipat, four blocks, Hisar-I, Hansi-I, Sonipat and Gohana and four villages Dabra, Umra, Juan and Rabhra were selected randomly. A sample of 100 parents of school dropouts was interviewed. The data were collected with the help of duly constructed and pre tested interview schedule by the researcher. Children (girls and boys) who dropped in the years between 2001 to 2006 were taken as respondents in the sample. Most of the dropouts were in the year 2005. As concerned for dropout rate, more girls left the school in 7^th, 9^th, 10^th, 12^th then the boys. Boy's dropout rate was high in 6^th, 8^th and 11^th standard. In Sonipat girls’ enrolments were less and dropout rate was high. Most of the girls (29.96%) dropped out in the year 2005, followed by 28.91 per cent in the year 2004 and 16.32 per cent in the year 2003. A study in Haryana showed that maximum number of dropouts had occurred in the age of 13–16 years either from Hisar and Sonipat district.