Dropout is a problem for many reasons. One, at the aggregate economy level wherein education is known to be an important determinant of economic growth, premature dropout means loss of potential productivity. And two, within the education sector, dropout raises the cost of achieving a targeted proportion of the population having some level of schooling. The other area where dropout is a problem--and perhaps the more important one--is from the equity perspective. Dropouts may appear small in number but they are preponderant among the poor which thereupon turns the wheels of intergenerational transmission of poverty against them. At the personal level, dropping out of school will mean consigning one to a future of low-income trajectory. Given a choice, one will obviously not opt for this.
