Ireland has one of highest school drop-out rates
A new Department of Education report published today has sent shock waves throughout the country.
The study, which tracked the progress of 64,000 students who enrolled in 720 schools in 1995 and 1996, reveals a 5% drop-out rate before some students even take the Junior Cert.
By law, youngsters are required to stay in school until the age of sixteen.
But the study revealed how more than half of students in disadvantaged areas drop out before the Leaving Cert and one in twenty students quit before taking the Junior Certificate.
This means that more than 3,200 pupils leave the system every year without qualifications and boys are more likely to go this road than girls, with 28% of male students quitting before the Leaving.
Schools in Dublin seem to be hardest hit, but on a national level one in twelve of the country’s 720 secondary schools have a drop-out rate of more than 50% before the Leaving.
This is one of the highest quit rates in the first world according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
