Factors influencing school dropouts in relation to socioeconomic background

The study investigates the factors influencing the school dropouts at the primary level in relation to the socio-economic background of them in the Jorhat district of Assam, India based on the responses of 120 dropouts selected through random sampling. The major factors of dropping out in relation to the socioeconomic background were found to be lack of parental guidance in studies, household work, poor economic condition and failure in examination. Parents of the low income level families needed to work hard and for a longer period of the day due to which they neither had time nor the enthusiasm to guide their children in their studies. The poor parents could not meet their necessities like books, uniform, fees, etc at the appropriate time and thus withdrew their children from schools. Besides the parents had poor educational background and thus they could not educate their children properly and were not able to give proper attention to their children's education. The children were even made to do the household work due to which they did not get much time to spend on their studies. This led to failure in examinations and ultimately to dropping out from school.