EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING

Education is the basis for individual emancipation and has a major impact on the development of our entire society. Therefore, ensuring equal opportunities to quality education for all has a major importance in today’s world. SCHOOL DROPOUTS Early school leaving represents a serious problem faced by contemporary society. To be able to reduce the number of school abandons, it would be good to identify and study a few of its causes. The objective of the European Union concerning the problem of early school leaving is clear and firm: a school drop-out rate in the EU of 10% until 2020. According to statistics, 6 million young people give up annual studies. (which means about 14% of the total number of students) For them, the future is bleak: unemployment, poverty or marginalization. Young people who quit school prematurely are considered to be those who, though they are aged between 18 and 24 years, have completed secondary education at most. THE SITUATION IN ROMANIA School abandonment is a serious problem, and the forecasts show that this phenomenon will increase due to the economic crisis. In Romania, the early school leaving rate has increased by a third over the past 9 years. The growth rate of abandonment is determined by the current economic crisis. The analysis obtained by UNICEF on the basis of monitoring, the impact of the economic crisis led to a 10% increase of school absenteeism. Forecast on the impact of the economic crisis estimates an increase of the population affected by poverty, which will undoubtedly lead to a growth in the phenomenon of school abandonment. If before 1989 the rate of premature school leaving was very low, immediately after changing the regime and the transition to democracy, students tend more and more to leave school. They were also encouraged by the parents ' attitude that "the book is no longer a priority," no guarantee for getting a job. Moreover, the emigration of the labor force has increasing effects on students, either they follow their parents to another country, or they are left to relatives or close acquaintances to look after them, and they deal only superficially with the school situation of these children. Poverty is the main cause of school leaving, UNICEF warning that Romania is the country with the highest rate of child poverty in the EU.The European Commission has asked Member States to take measures to reduce early school drop-out rate and increase the number of graduates. Dates for 2011 published by Eurostat show that Romania is in second place among the countries with the lowest graduation rate of higher education among people between the ages of 30 and 34 years of age. The rate for Romania is 20.4%, up 2% compared to 2010, According to data reported by the European Commission in terms of early dropouts, the percentage is of 17.5%.

The highest percentages are recorded in Malta – over 33% and Spain-over 26%. The European average is 13.5 percent, while European objective for 2020 is that the rate should fall below 10%. POVERTY, THE MAIN FACTOR IN EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING The main question raised by UNICEF when it comes to dropout is poverty. Romania is the country with the highest proportion of poor children, according to a study conducted by UNICEF. Among the countries which have studied the situation, Romania is in the first place, with the highest percentage of poor children, 25.5% of children living in poverty in Romania, followed by the USA (23.1%), Latvia (18,7%), Bulgaria (17.8) and Spain (11%). The author of the report, Peter Adamson, insisted that the poverty rate among children is the most important to a society, because it shows “how well it defends the most vulnerable of citizens ". The report also indicates a low rate of products considered basic in developed countries, such as three meals a day, books, money for school trips or two pairs of shoes. 72, 6% of the children in Romania do not have two or more of these products and in Bulgaria 56.6% of the children are in the same situation. In Romania, of all young people between 18 to 24 years of age who have graduated no more than secondary school, 23.6% do not follow any form of education or training- this is the highest percentage in Europe. Bulgaria has a percentage of 21.4%, 12.6% in Hungary, best placed is Slovenia, with 4.2%. In the course of secondary school, the students leaving school are 30% more than in primary classes. According to statistics, the periods of vulnerability are grades I and II, as well as the 5th and 6th. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), 436.404 children between the ages of 3 and 17 years of age were not enrolled in any form of education, kindergarten, school, high school and professional education at the level of 2008.

The number of children not attending school rises significantly from the age of 13, in the first part of the cycle of secondary school, and reaches a maximum around the age of 16-17 years, 138.234, which indicates a growing trend in the rate of school leaving from this age.

CAUSES, SOLUTIONS, STATISTICS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

To achieve the objective of an average rate of less than 10%, the Member States are invited to develop policies that cover the entire educational cycle, eliminating the factors that cause the abandonment of school, solving the problems that arise and offering a second chance to young people who regret the decisions taken at a certain time.

Thus, there are three areas of action: 1. Prevention – improvement of equal access to high quality education from an early age. Measures should be introduced in order to guarantee the participation of all children in (the language support for the children of immigrants, for example). 2. Intervention – guidance and tutoring for students, improved relationship with parents, when signs such as absenteeism and very poor performance occur. 3. Compensation – students who quit school should be given the opportunity later to get the qualifications they need. Special programs like "second chance" offer courses for small groups of students, as well as more personalized and more flexible teaching methods compared with regular schools. -Schools in deprived areas are characterized by isolation, poverty and lack of opportunities for social and professional success for graduates. Devoid of motivation, many secondary school students quit in the early years of study, abiding to give a helping hand in their own households, working along with their parents in the villages. Poverty in less favored areas communities limit the possibilities for parents to give children the resources needed for education. This condition often leads to exploitation of children through work by the parents. The lack of interest in school is explained by economic pressures, through parents ' personal disappointments and the lack of culture of the community which may be susceptible to formal institutions. These causes may be removed by targeting funds available to schools in such areas, by establishing links with existing training centres, by providing an infrastructure to provide transportation for students, and feeding for students residing at long distances from the school. -The culture of origin of the students - educational research has revealed that the socio-cultural environment of origin of the students is one of the most important variables in the students’ success or failure of school and professional life. The family's attitude is very important in relation to school. -Family climate has an outstanding role in the causes of school abandonment. Thus, the lack of family life, the consequences of divorce, family conflict and climate in general, educational methods and the lack of authority of parents, cold, indifferent attitude, here are some other issues that lead to school abandonment. Factors of social and economic nature – such as political crises, economic, social and moral collapse of the system of social protection, the confusion or lack of standards or values – here are the other causes that lead to disorientation, students’ removal from the educational environment and in the end – the school drop-out. -Educational factors: insubordination towards norms and rules, school truancy, absenteeism, failure, poor motivation and interest in relation to school, teachers’ mistakes (attitude and networking, professional competence, moral authority) have an important role in early school leaving.

Reluctant Parents

Lack of footwear or clothes to go to school or the obligation to care for younger siblings are not always the reasons why children don't go to school. Often parents do not want children to study because they didn’t study either. The chance for this phenomenon to be reduced lies in the power to persuade parents that only through education their children will be able to overcome them. The work of persuasion carried out with parents is sometimes more difficult than learning the letters. Intensive programmes to prevent school dropout among Romani ethnic; The government has initiated programs that have as theme the phenomenon of school leaving in the disadvantaged communities, in particular the Roma population . Actions: -Preparation of manuals and materials for students and teachers: dictionaries, the rromani language grammar, the Bible. -Local community involvement in the actions taken by schools to educate Roma children and adults. Obstacles: -Deviations from the proposed program because of absenteeism caused by third-party factors: poor financial situation, the phenomenon of migration, and lack of education of the families. -Rigid traditions that prevent them from attending compulsory education. Comments – suggestions: -The development of projects with grant for education programs in different directions: hygiene and health, promotion of traditional trades, social conduct and permanent education. Of utmost importance for the success of education is considered to be the creation of a partnership between the school, the family, the community, in which everyone must assume their roles according to their competence. The purpose of the proposed partnership model is to create a link and empowering community/school/family as factors directly involved in the training of students in order to prevent and combat school drop-out. I consider that the action of psycho-pedagogical counseling must take into consideration the following aspects: a. Modalities of intervention at community level -The involvement of decision makers, local authorities, social services, NGOs, companies, in the prevention and combat of school leaving Actions may concern: -Inform the community about the status quo. -Attracting attention on the severity of the consequences at the socio-economic level for each region of the country, given the fact that abandonment due to poverty in turn generates poverty. - A low level of education and vocational training creates premises for the high rate of unemployment , a precarious financial situation and anti-social behavior.

-Those who abandon school will not have the moral and civic required role as parents and citizens of the community. b.Family intervention: -creating associations of parents with children who are in a situation of risk or dropout aimed at: -career counseling, teaching strategies for finding a job, crisis-solving techniques, strategies for monitoring and management of the educational path of the student. -organizing fairs of educational options for informational purposes regarding the optimal choices of schooling for students -job fairs and guiding parents to undergo training in the qualifications needed on the labor market. -Financial support in the form of office supplies, clothing, school transportation of pupils from rural areas to urban areas. -Development of social investigation and social assistance where appropriate c. Ways of intervention at school level: As one of the causes of school leaving is absenteeism, intervention strategies should aim at the school, mainly in terms of the quality of educational contents, educational relevance in relation to the learning needs of the students, the relevance of methods and teaching styles to situations of pupils ' cognitive assessment system, etc. Having regard to the intervention strategies at the school level, of utmost importance is the psycho-pedagogical counseling of teachers with respect to this category of students, as well as training aimed at learning and using personalized intervention plans - Teachers’ training in active and interactive teaching techniques -Vocational counseling -Class management -Knowledge and use of strategies to adapt the curriculum d. Methods of intervention at the level of students: -Psycho-pedagogical counseling, individual and group - Psychological tests for the purpose of knowing the level of intellectual development, the skills and personality of students -additional training activities for the students with learning difficulties as well as for those with gaps in preparation, due to absenteeism. We believe that it is necessary to have a detailed knowledge of both the students and their families. Here are some of the actions proposed by the experts of UNICEF:

• extracurricular activities ( school renovation/refurbishing, sports contests, artistic competitions, computer game competitions, etc.) carried out in schools in communities at high risk of dropping out, as well as in secondary schools that attract students from such communities. • all of these actions or sets of actions must have a periodical character in order to maintain continuously the attractiveness of the school and to constantly draw students’ attention to the school activities. • positive motivation to participation may be the symbolic awarding of students who perform such actions. • planning actions in question can be realized with the participation of students (not just those who show no risk of abandonment) and local authorities (they may be present in key phases, providing positive motivation of both students and teachers). • use school resources to attract students through activities for free time. Another thing that you can do is use the experience and life-stories of those who have dropped out of school in order to prevent students’ dropping confidence in education. • It may be helpful for students who have already quit school prematurely to get into contact with those who are at risk of abandoning, telling them about the problems they faced in life after leaving school • former pupils of the school can be attracted to present their life in "mini-conferences", in which they interact with current students. • proactive involvement of teachers in dealing with dropouts • stimulation of local administrations and NGOs to involve as volunteers young pupils of 8th grade and high school coming from communities at high risk of dropping out in the support programs for the elderly and families in need.