BILLS, BOOKS AND BOYS

BOYS’ DISENGAGEMENT FROM EDUCATION 

                                                                 -Mananyaa Bhattacharjya

                                                                   

Sameer Roshan, a dropout from a small rural school, quotes, “The more time I spend in school, the more I come to the conclusion that school isn’t for me. I’m better off working in my brother’s chai shop.” Such is the case of hundreds of other boys in nations all over the world. 

Boys tend to be more disengaged than girls in India. The continuous lack of participation among school boys in education continues to be a major concern in today’s world. The number of boys dropping out remained highly neutral up till the 1970s, when later boys’ underperformance in schools turned out to be a huge cause of distress in schools. A recent report from UNESCO states that boys are generally at a higher risk of dropping out than girls and having poorer outcomes in schools, mostly in their secondary education. This has led to a crisis in boys’ overall performance in not only progressing in their lives as educated human beings but also in securing jobs in the market. This issue stands out as one of the major issues because the Right to Education is not met for all. Although the ratio for girls not joining schools tends to be higher, the number of boys dropping out from schools takes the higher position. Boys also bear the brunt of getting called “lazy” or “non-compliant” which may fuel their flames for not taking education seriously, taking it as something pointless. 

Shreedha Mitra, ex-headmistress of a local high school, claims that as much as poverty has a huge role to play in this, bad influence from outside sources as well as peers have a huge impact on boys’ indifference towards education. According to her, in this case, freedom for boys has a negative influence on them. Excess freedom, owing to their “masculinity,” has gone a long way into making them think of education as secondary and unimportant. Forcing the children into taking up subjects they wouldn’t want to pursue also stands as a crucial reason for their disengagement in studies. Apart from this, particularly laddish boys pick on vulnerable boys regarding their sexual orientation or financial state, giving them all the more reason to drop out of schools. Due to prevailing stigma in the society, some boys find it immensely difficult to seek help as they are taught from an early age that crying is an indication of weakness. It paints a bleak picture of the society for them, making them feel hopeless. This is somehow normalized in the society which we should break free from. 

Establishing a better parent-teacher relationship would go a long way in enhancing the children’s participation in class and also reduce their chances of skipping school. It is mostly on the school’s part to provide for an all-inclusive environment for students. Identification of learning disorders among children at an early age would also help them and give them a heads up for their future. In most situations, especially in a country like India, parents have an adverse attitude towards their children’s sexuality which makes them feel like they cannot confide in them for their needs. Parents should be more encouraging and more open towards their children's choices and motivate them into achieving their best self. The vital key is to spread awareness about this issue, which later makes it easier to execute strategies to overcome the matters.