A recent research into Middle School drop-out rates in the island, indicate that the North-East saw the highest rates, reports Uthayan.
Analysis of the drop-out figures revealed that approximately 38000 students and 24000 students drop-out of school in the Northern and Eastern provinces respectively.
Child Protective organisation officials have pointed out that the underlying reason for school drop-outs seemed to be the fact that impoverished children were impelled to find jobs to provide immediate sustenance for family.
A recent UN report into school drop-out rates found that, as well as poverty, there were several other factors that instigated high drop-out rates. The report outlined that a lack of school safety and availability of income generating opportunities where deeply connected to high drop-out rates, and went on to note:
“Poverty also interacts with other points of social disadvantage, with the interaction of factors putting further pressure on vulnerable and marginalised children to drop-out. For example, orphans and children from minority language groups.”
The drop-out stats are another contradictory reality to the Sri Lankan government’s questionable claims of reconciling and developing the North-East.
