Dropout Behaviour of Children: The Case of West Bengal

Article Type

Research Article

Publication Title

Indian Journal of Human Development

Abstract

This article examines the dropout behaviour of students below class 10 level (maximum age of 16 years) from two different perspectives. First, from the parents’ perspective, we identify the major characteristics of a household that forces the child to dropout from school, using a Probit analysis. Second, from the child’s perspective, we try to relate the reasons for dropping out (as specified by the child) with the background of the household the child belongs to and the school infrastructure provided to him/her, through a multinomial logit model. The data set used is the 71st round (January 2014 to June 2014) data on education expenditure and is provided by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). The analysis is done for the state of West Bengal, India, separately for boys and girls. It shows the significance of parental education and economic factors in children’s dropout behaviour, which is in line with the observations in existing literature. Additionally, this article offers children’s perspectives on such behaviour from across genders and economic classes.

First Page

275

Last Page

289

DOI

10.1177/0973703020951514

Publication Date

8-1-2020

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