The national youth service aims to reintegrate dropouts and discourage students from quitting in the first place through workshops.  Photo: Shutterstock

The national youth service aims to reintegrate dropouts and discourage students from quitting in the first place through workshops.  Photo: Shutterstock

With a pandemic, lockdown and an education to manage, the number of young people who dropped out of school increased to 8.2% during the 2020-2021 academic year.

1,736 students left school without any certification or diploma, the ministry of education said on 31 March. This is not only an increase compared to the prior year (6.92%) but also to 2016/2017, when 1,720 students (8.15%) quit attending classes. The rate remains below the 10% objective set by the European Union, with the the number of dropouts re-enrolling in school is rising, the ministry said.

Last year, 23.04% of all youths and children who had left education returned to school--they were 18.33% in 2019/2020--a rate that reached 25.97% for 16 to 18-year-olds. Last year, the government had announced that to counter the dropout trend,

State monitors dropouts

In the ministry also noted that pupils in grade 10, boys (60%), and students who had to repeat two or more years (60.94%) were most likely to drop out. Following up with these students, and those who have attempted to re-enroll, the ministry found that for many who wished to return, the traditional system didn’t suit them. Instead, these students preferred receiving access to training that would help them get a job.

The government did not indicate to what extend language difficulty in the Luxembourg school system was a reason for students to leave school. As a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)  2021, a lot of initiatives to help foreigners integrate in Luxembourg need to be pushed further.

Children, for instance, struggle to integrate the school system in Luxembourg, where the main language of education switches from Luxembourgish to German to French over the course of 15 years, the study explained. This would then--according to the OECD--explain how 55% of drop-outs are immigrants and non-natives.

However, dropout students were less idle in the past year; their participation in voluntary services organised by the national youth initiative SNJ grew by 31.5%, and their implication in workshops grew from 283 units to 323.

SNJ in the same report reinstated its wish to not just accompany those who had already quit school, but to be present for those who felt like dropping out.


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