The Cause of Drop out Students among

the junior students of Pacita Complex

National High School for the school year

2008- 2009

Submitted by:

Masalta, Stephanie S.
Mauring, Michelle C.

Acknowledgement
We would like to express our gratitude to all those who gave us the possibility to complete this

research.

We want to thank Mr. Joel C. Mustar, our research teacher and Ms. Aileen Alava, the Third Year

Chairman for giving us permission to commence this research in the first instance and to do the

necessary research work.

Especially, we are deeply indebted to our parents whose help, stimulating suggestions, financial

support and encouragement helped us in all the time of research for and writing of this research

project and whose patient love enabled us to complete this work.

To the third year teachers of Pacita Complex National High School, for their selfless cooperation

and sharing their precious time.

And above all, to the Almighty God, who never cease in loving us and for the continued

guidance and protection.

Dedication

We dedicate this research project to our parents, without their patience, understanding, support

and most of all love, the completion of this work would not have been possible.
 Table of Contents
Chapter I
Introduction
Statement of the Project
General objective
Specific objective
Hypothesis
Significance of the Problem
Scope and Limitation
Definition of Terms
Chapter II
Review of Related Literature and Studies
Chapter III
Methodology
Chapter IV
Results and Discussion
Chapter V
Conclusion and recommendation
 Chapter I

Introduction
 Dropout is a student who leaves a specific level of education system without achieving

first qualification.

A number of dropout students are increasing. School dropouts have a serious negative

impact on the societies. Early dropout from the education system leading into low qualification

and most often to unemployment and other social problems is the cause for an increasing

education divide in many countries. Often this divide further distances various social, cultural or

ethnic groups within a society.

Children who are from poor families, live in rural areas, or are from ethnic and linguistic

minorities are less likely to attend school. Girls’ education is strongly associated with better

welfare at the individual, family, and society level. Educated mothers are more likely to send

their children to school, thus breaking the cycle of poverty. The quality of learning is and must be

at the heart of Education for All. Many young people make decisions in their early years that can

affect not only their personal welfare, but also their societies as a whole. Some students fail to

complete school and may become marginalized, unemployed, or otherwise underprivileged

instead of becoming productive members of society.

High school dropouts are both an individual (and family) problem as well as a national

one. It is individual problem because most (not all) do make considerably less money than

graduates. It is a national problem not so much because of lost tax revenue but because we have

had a tremendous waste of human resources.

Why do students drop out of high school? Their reasons are many. Some are personal, such as

pregnancy or the need to help support their families. Most, however, are school-related. Most

students who dropped out were doing poorly in school, and many felt that their teachers didn’t
care. Only 18 percent reported to the NCES that they had passing grades in their last year of

school. Often, dropouts felt that they didn’t fit in, or they couldn’t get along with their teachers

or fellow students. Also because of the pressure that school brings them. Like, sometimes the

teacher might get on the back of a student so much that the student doesn’t want to do the work. .

. . And then that passes and he says, “I’m gonna start doing good. . . .” Then he’s not doing as

good as he’s supposed to and when he sees his grade, he’s, “you mean I’m doin’ all that for

nothin’? I’d rather not come to school.”

The dreams of these young dropouts are said to be “deferred,” or postponed, because

more and more jobs today require a high level of skill and education. By dropping out of high

school, teens are “locking themselves out of mainstream society and are barred from good-

paying jobs,”. For example, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, in 1996 high school

dropouts earned an average salary of only $14,013, about one-third less than the $21,431 earned

by high school graduates. In addition, dropouts comprise half of all heads of households on

welfare and more than half of all people in jail.

But teens will continue to drop out of school unless ways can be found to help them

realize that education is the key to achieving a successful life. Working together, teens and

educators can explore who drops out and why and then look for ways to help all young people

stay in school and receive the education they need.

Statement of the Project

General objective

This study was conducted to know the cause of third year dropout students in Pacita

Complex Natonal High School. To raise awareness about the issue of school dropouts.
Specific objective

With the use/ help of this research, you will find out how teachers and students react and

how they respond to this given topic. What are there views about dropouts. What are the causes

and effects. Aimed at getting to the roots of the drop out problem and the reasons behind its

occurrence, the drop out study situated the drop out incidence along the current policies. To

develop recommendations based on the findings

Hypothesis

Drop out students are most likely to have low job opportunities and low salaries

because most companies hire college graduates. The most possible cause of dropout students is

poverty.

Significance of the Problem

Adolescents will realize that dropping out is a mistake. They will strive hard for their

dream even though they did not finish their studies. The key point is that all these children

should be in school; and if they are not, where are they? And who are they?

Why are they not where society intends them to be, for their own good as well as for the good of

society?

Scope and Limitation

This study is limited to fifteen (15) junior teachers, ten (10) parents and fifteen (15)

dropout students from Pacita Complex Natinal High School. This is done for the purpose of what

are their views about drop out students. The scope of the study is likewise limited to the possible

responses of the respondents.

The Disadvantaged

Although former communist countries have an admirable record for getting a very high

proportion of children into primary school, with net enrolment rates1 for ISCED 1 generally

around the 90% mark, this still means that a significant percentage of primary school-age

children are not in school. There is also still a slight gender discrepancy at the primary stage,

with boys having the advantage over girls by a small margin; by ISCED 2/3, the difference is

practically eliminated or indeed slightly in favour of girls, except in Tajikistan where 45% of all

students enrolled in ISCED 2/3 are girls compared with 48% in ISCED 1. This is clearly a trend

to be watched.

Looking at the findings of the surveys conducted for this DO study, the main reason for non-

registration, non- or irregular attendance, and drop-out is poverty.It has long been acknowledged

that, in any country, poverty reduces the chances of children’s access to, and survival in,

education. In transition countries, the combined effects of social and economic disruption caused

enrolment rates to fall and education budgets to shrink. Evidence suggests that both trends

adversely affected the poor. The increasing incidence of direct charges, even in compulsory

primary education, victimizes the children of the poor – and those without parents - because they

cannot afford to pay for books, materials, transport, meals, or even for supplements to teacher

salaries or school building maintenance.

A 2004 survey2 estimates that of the 44 million children living in former communist countries,

14 million live below national poverty lines. Obviously, these children are unlikely to be able to

pay even small amounts. As country-by-country data show, “direct charges” are known by a

variety of names because in most countries they should not be (but are) charged. These charges

can be prohibitively high, and prevent children from enrolling or force them to work3 drop out
1
2
3
before they complete compulsory primary school. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, of 20

countries that legally guarantee free compulsory primary education, 13 do in fact charge school

fees of some kind.

The pattern of countries that tolerate “direct charges” shows that these charges themselves are

poverty-driven. None of the 34 members of the EU, the European Economic Area, or the OECD

reported charges in compulsory primary education, with only two exceptions. Poorer countries

often find themselves unable to maintain their chronically under-funded school systems without

charging formal or informal fees.

Definition of Terms
Definitions of dropout

UNESCO Definition:

Dropping out or „early school leaving“ is understood as leaving school education without

completing the started cycle or program.

Morrow’s Definition:

A drop out is any student previously enrolled in a school, who is no longer actively enrolled as

indicated by 15 days of consecutive unexcused absences, who has not satisfied local standards

for graduation, and for whom a formal request has been received signifying enrollment in

another state licensed educational institutions. A student death is not tallied as a dropout.

Hidden dropouts- children who attend school regularly, but are neglected in the classroom and
then fail
Misreported dropouts – discrepancy between reported and observed dropouts.
Statistics – no reliable, comparable and consistent data
Misreporting – “blame culture” or school funding depends on the enrollment

Chapter II

Review of Related Literature and Studies

Local

Dropouts take DepEd alternative

MANILA, Philippines -- You don’t have to be a world boxing champ in order to pass the

Department of Education’s Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) test and get a high school

diploma.

You can avail yourself of the DepEd’s Alternative Learning System (ALS), a practical option to

the existing formal instruction for out-of-school youths and adults aged 16 years and over.

Since 2004, out-of-school youths have enrolled at the nearest DepEd school division between

June and November, and attended the ALS sessions where they are given (or allowed to

photocopy) modules for self-learning. In some centers, teachers or facilitators conduct reviews

for the A&E test which is given in February every year.

A&E exam results are usually out in May, just in time for ALS graduates to enroll in college or

apply for overseas jobs because now they have a high school diploma.

Out of 35,404 takers of the high school A&E test this year, 10,887 passed, according to the

DepEd website.

ALS Quezon City division coordinator Alejandra Mondoñedo has seen the program grow from a

literacy-cum-livelihood project in the 1970s to what it is today: An alternative and practical

option which allows school dropouts to complete elementary and high school education outside

the school system.

Mondoñedo, who turned 65 this year, remembers supervising vocational courses, like cooking,

cosmetology and sewing, at the Don Alejandro Roces Sr. Science and Technology High School

on Roces Avenue in Quezon City.

A million stories
“Our students in the past were mostly working mothers and maids. When they enroll, they not

only learn a skill, like cooking, how to give a manicure and pedicure, we make sure they also

learn how to read and write,” Mondoñedo says.

A devoted teacher, she has a million stories about her “alaga”, which is what she calls the

students she has met and helped through the years. They include men and women in their 20s

and 30s who are too embarrassed to go back to regular school, young stars -- some of whom

would come straight from taping at nearby ABS-CBN or GMA 7 -- maids, seamen, sidewalk

vendors and yes, even children of congressmen.

She shares some of their stories with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of

INQUIRER.net.

“Vicente,” 38, has left the country many times to work as a seaman. But in 2005, he was asked to

get off the ship. Reason: The company found out he had a fake high school diploma.

Mondoñedo says it was Vicente’s wife who first came to see her to ask about enrolling a family

member in ALS.

“I asked if she had brought her son. She was not answering. Finally, she said, ‘Ma’am, hindi

anak. Asawa ko po ang mag-aaral. Nasa labas siya. Ayaw pumasok at nahihiya. Baka daw siya

ang pinakamatanda sa klase (It’s not my son, it’s my husband who will go to school. He’s

outside. He doesn’t want to come in because he’s ashamed to be the oldest one in class),’” she

recalls.

Mondoñedo suggested then that the couple first observe the class. When Vicente saw there were

four other people in their 30s, he decided to enroll.

“He made five good friends. Only three passed the A&E test. Vicente was one of them. But he

was not able to attend the graduation because he already got a job as a seaman,” she says.

Foreign
SchoolDropouts:

Different Faces in Different Countries

Albania
A child who has dropped out from school:

• believe that school is no good for future;

• be employed to help family;

• have poorly motivated teachers;

• have unemployed parents;

• has a large family and have communication problems among members.

Kazakhstan

• drop-out is a hidden problem in Kazakhstan (according to the official statistic there

are only 0.2 percent children dropping out from the school system). Thus it is not

considered on the national level and it is not a topic for broad discussion in society.

• For years of independence new groups of children “at risk” appeared: street children,

children from disadvantages families and “oralmans” (Kazakh families repatriate

from China, Iran, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, etc), social orphans.

Latvia

• Compulsory schooling is 9 Grades, but students, if not graduating, must sit at school

until age of 18;

• Most dropouts have problems in these subjects:

Math, Sciences, English, Latvian lng, and History.

• Parents of dropouts have low level of education.

 • Parents are employed, but have low income.

Slovakia

• The Slovak term for “dropout” relates just to children who finish compulsory

education without finishing their primary education. Children registered but absent

excessively are referred to as notorious truants.

• Transition from primary(9 years) to secondary school is the “risky” period for

children who tend to leave school early. At risk children and children from socially

disadvantaged family environments, especially Roma children, rarely reach secondary

school and often finish compulsory schooling in lower grades of primary school.

• The issue of school dropouts is discussed very little, there is also a lack of data and

insufficient school statistics related to the issue and factors leading to school

dropouts.

Mongolia Based on the results of the survey, the following are the most common reasons

why children drop out. They are broadly categorized into reasons that are considered as

policy focus areas and understudied areas.

• Policy Focus Areas:

• Poverty/low income or lack of means of subsistence;

• Child-labor related reasons such as herding, need to earn a living to help support the

family, and need to take care of siblings or older members of the family;

• Migration;

• Lack of dormitories;

• Teacher discrimination

• Systemic problems of the education system.

Tajikistan
• Based on the results of the survey, the main reasons why students drop out of school

are the effects of poor economic conditions, which drive children to work at an early

age and therefore quit school. An external circumstance considered as another reason

on why students drop out was the 1992-1997 civil war, which caused forced

migration and rendered those who migrated as refugees.

 Chapter III

Methodology

The descriptive method was used in this study. Descriptive method of research is a fact-

finding study with adequate and accurate interpretation of the findings. Since the present study

was concerned with the present status of the cause of dropped out third year students in Pacita

Complex National Highschool, the descriptive method of research was the most accurate method

to use.

The survey was conducted by using a short questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to gather a

limited amount of general information from teachers from Pacita Comples National High School.

This was used because it gathers data faster than any other method. Besides, the respondents were

teachers, parents and students and so they are very literate. They could read and answer the

questionnaire with ease.

The copies of the questionnaire were then distributed personally by the researcher to the respondents.

After conducting the survey to 15 teachers, 10 parents and 15 students we then interpreted and

analyze the collected data.

Chapter IV
 Results and Discussion
Student’s questionnaire
1. Are you a drop out student?

46.67% of students drop outs and 53.33 are drop outs.

2. What do you think is the most possible cause of drop outs among the 3rd year students?

60% of the student respondents said that family problems is the most possible cause of
dropout stusents. 20% said that financial problems and peer pressure is the most possible cause
and none answered for social / environmental problems and others.

3. Do you believe school guarantees a better future?

As we can see through the table there are approximately 67% of students who answered that
school guarantees a better future and approximately 33% didn’t agree.

4. Is there a valid reason of dropping out of school?

67% said that there is a valid reason for dropping out of school and 33% that there is no valid
reason behind this.

5. (for dropout students only) Would you prefer to attend school again?

73% students prefer to go to school again and 27% don’t.

Parent’s questionnaire
1. What do you think is the most possible cause of drop outs among the 3rd year students?

Parents said that financial problems and family problems is the most possible cause of drop out
students among third year level.

2. Do you think there is any valid reason for dropping out of school?

93% said that there is a valid reason and 7 percent said that there’s none.

3. Do you believe school guarantees a better future?

12 out of 15 parents which is 80% of parents agrees that schools guarantees a better
future and 3 out of 15 which is 20% don’t.
Questionnaire for teachers

1. Do high school drop outs have the opportunity to have a job?

2 out of 15 teachers said that high school drop outs have the opportunity to have a job
while 5 said most likely and 8 teachers said high school drop outs don’t have the opportunity to
have a job.

2. What do you think is the most possible cause of drop outs among the 3rd year students?

The most possible cause of drop out students according to teachers is family problems.
 3. Do you believe school guarantees a better future?

All teacher respondents said that school guarantees a better future.

4. Do you think there is any valid reason for dropping out of school?

10 out of 15 teachers said that there is no valid reason for dropping out of school which is
66.67% to be exact and 33.33% said that there is a valid reason.

5. Does Pacita Complex National High School accept drop out students?

Pacita Complex National High school accept drop out students.

 Chapter V

Conclusion and recommendation

Family circumstances (alcoholism, lack of communication between parents and children;

uneducated and/or unemployed parents), health of student or parent was the number one reason

behind the drop out problem as reported by all participating people, poverty, need to work or

help at home, , influence of friends who are themselves truants or drop-outs, bullying by peers,

unfriendly school environment, negative teacher attitude, lack of motivation or interest of

students and lack of social and communication skills of students.