20,800 students have dropped out of general educational schools in the 2004-2005

Participants in the survey, which was conducted in 2006, included 1,296 dropped out students and their parents, 200 principals, teachers and pedagogical advisers, as well as 100 experts from the social assistance departments.

According to the survey, the largest share of dropouts are those who left school for family reasons - 9,800 or 47 per cent of the total number of dropouts.

The share of those who dropped out because they didn’t want to study is also large - 5,400 or 25.8 per cent.

The share of children who dropped out of school after the fourth grade stands at 87.6 per cent of all dropouts.

More than half of all students dropped out of primary schools (1st-8th grade) and nearly 25 per cent dropped out of secondary schools (1st-12th grade). Dropouts from vocational and elementary schools stood out at 5 per cent each.

The main reasons for dropping out of school are three - socio-economic, educational and ethno-cultural. According to 50 per cent of the teachers and 69 per cent of the social workers „poverty in the family“ is an essential reason for dropping out of school. One in every five of the interviewed children aged between 12 and 16 works to help its family financially.

However, 34 per cent of the students aged 12 to 16 said they didn’t want to learn because they found it difficult and 22 per cent declared it was not interesting for them at school. 44 per cent of the 12-16-year-old students would return to school if they had the opportunity to study in vocational classes.

As regards the ethnic and cultural environment in which a child grows up, the survey found that it also influenced school attendance. Three-fourths of the parents of children who have dropped out of school are Roma and 12 per cent of the children aged 12 to 16 quoted early marriage as a reason for leaving school.

Education and Science Minister daniel Vulchev said there is a trend for children dropping out of school to concentrate in certain risk groups. In his words, one of the opportunities to reduce the number of dropouts are free textbooks until the seventh grade.

BTA