Reasons why youths leave school

The following statements are from the out-of-school youths’ (OSY) perspective and it is basis. Their understanding from the school’s perspective are not well understood and rationalised. Most of the youths that Tyem have come across have an attitude that people do owe them a living.

From Tyem’s direct counselling, feedback and research of over 60 youths, aged between 13 and 19 years old for OSYs, below is a summary of their main reasons:

Lost interest in studying
o Teaching and management staff are unable to have an in-depth understanding their problems
o Being streamed to the Normal (Acad/Tech) generally lower their self-esteem, self-respect & self-confidence
o Over age e.g. 16 years old in Sec 2 Normal (T)
o Genuine concerned teachers / staff are generally unable to give them the attention and acceptance of who they are
o Too much distractions and activities that the youth sees no relevance in education

Lost of self-esteem, self-respect & self-confidence
o Generally left out of school’s enrichment programmes such as leadership, teambuilding, entrepreneurship programmes, OBS
o Expression of their non-academic talents are seldom recognised and / or encouraged
o Mostly being accused or targeted when something goes amidst
o Embarrassed and humiliated often when lectured (they do feel hurt within but they have to put up a brave face)
o Treated with a parent – child approached (under Transactional Analysis)
o Joining street gangs give them acceptance and recognition, hence boosting their suppressed self-esteem/confidence/respect
o Streamed into Normal (Academic/Technical)
o Not given much encouragement to re-aligned them toward ‘O’ levels
o Strong feelings of being marginalised
o Fewer enrichment activities to groom them on Character Development
o Many have giving up hope in excelling academically since they are labelled as academically challenged youths

o Some school rules & regulation don’t make logical sense
o Discipline too strict – lack of listening, lots of action
o More parental involvement should be encouraged to discipline their child – (School to educate, Parents to edify)
o The concept of In Loco Parentis must be exercised well when disciplining a student such as, what would I do if this was my child

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