Tackling the dropout issue was always a hurdle for the government. Recently, the Meghalaya Government informed the state assembly that nearly one lakh students have dropped out of schools in the state in the past four years. Economic condition of the family, domestic sibling care and migration were some of the causes of the high drop-out rates in the state, reported the Press Trust of India.

“The main causes of dropouts are the economic condition of the parents, lack of success due to small habitation, poor teaching, domestic and sibling care and migration,” Education and Literacy Minister Deborah C Marak told the Assembly.

She said the number of dropouts in 2013-14 was 33,557. In 2014-15 it was 31,276 while the following year the number went down to 14,957 and last year it was 17,299. The Minister said the government has set up special training centres to bring them back to school and efforts are on to wean them back through various programs and initiatives.

One of the programmes initiated was the effort to try and improve the quality of teachers’ education and also introducing a flexible timing of the training centres to cater to those children who cannot attend school during the day time, Marak said.