Boys are falling off the school system. It’s time to reverse this, urgently
The paradox and contradiction of the Indian education system is mind-boggling. Equally mind-bending are its complexities. There are 265 million students enrolled in schools, of which 120 million are girls and 130 million are boys. There was 102% enrolment of all eligible students in 2021 at the primary school level, with a 1.02 female-to-male ratio; the more than 100% figure is due to older students admitted to schools and a direct fall out of the coronavirus pandemic. This is excellent news, but as they say, the devil is in the details.
The 100% enrollment does not translate to 100% educational attainment at schools. Of the 100%, 83% of girls and 81% of boys clear secondary school, while 67.7% of girls and 61.6% of boys clear higher secondary; this translates to a whopping
39% dropout rate for boys and a surprising 1.07 female-to-male ratio of students in educational attainment. Simply put, more girls are clearing higher secondary levels than boys. The implication of these statistics and the drop-out rates are worrisome. More worrisome is the lack of completion of schooling of boys. However, the reasons behind the school dropout rates of boys are never discussed.
Education and employment of boys should be an urgent and immediate priority because social pressures and gender role expectations for boys are also severe. A young male member of an average Indian household is expected to take full financial responsibility for his family, sometimes at a young age. But our school education does not equip them to become earning members after school. In fact, education could be a barrier to the kind of employment these young boys need. The main reason cited for dropping out of school is financial constraint, followed by disinterest in studies. There is, therefore, a need to improve the quality of education, this has been detailed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Young India is a much-touted demographic dividend, and experts suggest that this large, dynamic population will drive India’s growth in the decades to come. But to truly leverage this strength, it is essential to empower them, especially young men, with education and skills. Uneducated and unemployed youth could easily be a resurgent nation’s Achilles heel. To stem dropout rates, especially of boys, some immediate actions must be instituted by the government. It must introduce specialised vocational courses in classes 11 and 12 to train students to be employable or self-employed after completing school.
One- or two-year vocational courses on basic electrical training, electronics, automobile repair, carpentry, plumbing, hospitality, cooking and hair styling must be introduced in the regular school curriculum, as an additional stream after class 10. The need for vocational courses in classes 11-12 has been mentioned in NEP 2020. The second suggestion is instituting fellowships and stipends for male students who pursue vocational courses. There are a number of incentives for girl students to pursue education, it is equally important to incentivise education for boys.
In the Karnataka assembly election campaign, the Congress announced a social welfare scheme for young people called Yuva Nidhi. This scheme aims to support young people for two years, and pay ₹3,000 to unemployed graduates and ₹1,500 to unemployed diploma holders every month. Political parties use public funds for political gains, and this practice of freebies must be stopped. The government must institutionalise fellowships and stipends for all economically backward students pursuing higher secondary education, especially those opting for the vocational stream after class 10.
As India becomes the most populous country, the nation’s well-being rests on the wellbeing of the young. Our school curriculum must be reinvented and expanded, putting infrastructure and training teachers (teachers from the vast network of engineering and other specialised colleges can be used to conduct these vocational courses) to meet our social fabric’s vast and varied needs, upfront. Introducing practical vocational courses and fellowships would be the first step towards recharging our education system.