SCHOOL DROPOUT: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, AND STRATEGIES FOR PREVENTION
Abstract
School dropout remains a persistent and complex global challenge with profound implications for individuals, communities, and national economies. Despite significant progress in expanding educational access, recent studies (2023–2025) indicate that dropout rates continue to be strongly correlated with poverty, familial instability, and limited access to educational resources. Students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds are disproportionately affected by food insecurity, transportation challenges, and insufficient academic support—factors that significantly heighten their risk of prematurely exiting the educational system. Beyond these socioeconomic determinants, institutional factors such as disengaging curricula, overcrowded classrooms, strained teacher-student relationships, and bullying further erode student motivation and engagement. Psychological challenges—including depression, low self-esteem, learning difficulties, and substance abuse—are also critical predictors of dropout, particularly among secondary and tertiary-level students. Additionally, cultural and contextual elements, such as migration status, minority group membership, and environmental instability, exacerbate dropout risks in specific populations. The repercussions of school dropout are extensive. At the individual level, it often results in reduced employment opportunities, diminished lifetime earnings, and adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Societally, it contributes to heightened unemployment rates, deepened social inequality, and increased susceptibility to criminal behavior and civic disengagement. Addressing this multifaceted issue requires comprehensive, multi-tiered interventions that incorporate early warning systems, the cultivation of supportive school environments, and strong collaboration among families, schools, and communities. Emerging solutions such as the application of artificial intelligence and predictive analytics for early detection, behavioral “nudging” techniques, and second-chance educational initiatives underscore the necessity of framing dropout prevention as a social imperative intimately connected to equity, inclusive development, and long-term societal wellbeing.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v12i11.6279
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