Intervention for students who drop out of school
By Emelda G. Mondejar
Mercedes National High School
Zamboanga City
Why do some students drop out of school? There may be a number of reasons for the increasing dropout rates and I think one of the major causes is our society.
The cause of increasing dropout rates in the country is probably rooted in the smallest unit of the society, which is the family or home. A home is not a home if the members of the family are incomplete and are confronted with many problems – financial, emotional, health, and others. How can a student survive schooling when there are problems at home? The affected student may have a low self-esteem and may be unable to comply with school work and activities due to the family’s problems. Students coming from problematic families tend to be truant. Impoverishment of unemployed parents is also a problem and often results in non-provision of basic needs like clothing, food, shelter, medicine, and others. Stressful family life and events adversely affect the motivation and interest of students and may result in frequent tardiness, poor attendance, and lack of interest in school.
The school as a unit of the society has its role to play. The non-monitoring of children’s performance in school may be a failure of the school authorities. Students who are showing signs of dropping out have the following behavior: poor learning comprehension/ absorption of knowledge/concepts, avoids participating in school activities, inattentiveness to class activities, non-compliance to home assignments, prolonged absences, unusual behavior and embarrassment due to changes in physical appearance, sluggish, weak and sickly disposition.
The teachers and school authorities have roles to play too. It may be suggested that the teachers exert extra effort in the provision of differentiated instructions to accommodate various levels of reading activities, learning style preferences, so that this will not be resulting to poor achievement among students. The inability of teachers to identify students with learning difficulties non-conducive school climate due to inadequate school facilities should also be stressed out. As such, the community is also a contributing factor to these problematic students. The operation of gambling dens, gaming shops, entertainment stations, within the 50-meter perimeter from the school should be reduced.
The Department of Education (DepEd) has created several programs and interventions to save our students who are showing signs of dropping out. According to the DepEd Dropout Reduction Program (DORP) Handbook, the program aims to “reduce the high dropout rate and improve learning outcomes in public and private schools of the country, using formal, non-formal and informal approaches. It also aims to facilitate access of every Filipino to quality basic education, which equips him with the basic literacy tools and content that are essential for his growth and development as a person and as a citizen of a democratic society”.
The handbook also stressed out the following interventions to help save Students-at-risk-of dropping out (SARDO):
- EASE (Effective Alternative Secondary Education) - a program applicable to short-term and seasonal SARDO.
- OHSP (Open High School Program) - recommended for SARDOs who ‘permanently’ cannot attend regular classes
- SII (School-Initiated Interventions)- utilized according to the felt needs of the SARDO and to the existing available school resources
It is suggested that SARDO students be given extra attention by using these interventions.
Reference: DepEd DORP Handbook
(Published 01 September 2009, Smart Communications Inc.)
