Student retention is more important than enrollment

The government has introduced some programs such as free education and scholarships to attract and retain children in school, but the school dropout rate confirms that these are not enough. In order to ensure education for all, the Constitution has provided for compulsory education up to class 8 and free education up to 12th. The Compulsory and Free Education Act stipulates that a person who has not received education up to class 8 by 2085 Baisakh is not eligible to become a member, be elected, nominated or appointed in government, non-government, cooperative organizations. In order to ensure that no citizen is deprived of these rights and facilities, it is necessary to enroll children in school and keep them up to class 8. However, the state needs to work hard for that.

The government has been conducting recruitment campaigns every year with pomp. The textbook is made free. Mid-day meals and scholarship programs for underprivileged and gifted students are also in operation up to class 5. In order to enroll children, a program was held for the president, prime minister, minister, parliamentarian, people's representative from state to local level, employees, society and educators to adopt guardianship. However, 100% of students have not been admitted. The government's data shows that 4 percent of children are still out of reach of school. Those children should also be brought to school.

As the class increases in the school, the number of students seems to decrease. If we look at the students enrolled in the year 2071, it seems that the maximum of 264,000 students have completed their studies from class 1. What kind of students leave school after less than a year? Children who were brought to school to show higher enrollment rates are dropping out! Enrollment numbers may also be overstated to prevent schools from closing or collapsing. Students may drop out of school due to lack of attendance or poor learning environment. If the reason why students drop out of school can be found in a short period of time, it will help to make the admission campaign effective and improve the plan and program for student retention.

Family background plays an important role in student learning. There are a significant number of children who are forced to drop out of school due to family, social and economic reasons despite the desire to continue their education. Children who are forced to work and support their families while growing up cannot go to school. Parents also have the problem of separating their children from education due to the greed of wages. Child labor is a product of that.

Awareness campaign for parents regarding student retention should also be introduced to increase the income of poor families. Government schools charging fees for teaching in English medium may also have affected students from poor families. To solve the problem of leaving school due to having to run a long distance, hostels should be arranged in the school. Since the dropout rate of children with disabilities is high, schools should prepare an environment that is suitable for them as well. If there is a problem with the medium language due to dropping out of school, an environment should also be prepared for teaching in the mother tongue.

If the learning environment in the school is good, the student retention rate can increase. Many government schools lack infrastructure including teachers and educational materials. There is a problem of teacher shortage in difficult subjects such as English, mathematics and science. Even the existing teachers do not teach, and even if they do teach, they tend to have a 'job eating' mentality rather than teaching. The school administration and the local government should focus on improving the learning environment of the school. Teachers should be made responsible for their profession. Teaching method should be student friendly. When a student is irregular or stops coming, the school should show interest, meet the student or parent and remind them, if there is any complication, they should take the initiative to solve it.