The Ministry of Education, Children and Youth has published its ninth study on school dropouts in Luxembourg, focusing on students who have left school either during or at the end of the 2012-2013 school year without a diploma or certification; this represents a total of 1,643 students.
Of these students, 779 are classified as school dropouts, representing a dropout rate of 11.6% for 2012-2013, up from 9.2% the previous year.
The Ministry has announced four steps in an attempt to reduce this rate:
• a bill on the coherence of educational and vocational guidance;
• a more diversified school offering;
• a symposium on school dropout organised in July 2015 as part of the Luxembourg Presidency of the European Union;
• renewal of the concept of remediation as an alternative to repeating.
Of these 1,643 students,
• 779 were dropouts; they have permanently left school; among them:
-- 88 have found jobs (159 in 2011-2012);
-- 51 are enrolled in an employment measure (67 in 2011-2012);
-- 207 were re-enrolled in a school and dropped out again (124 in 2011-2012);
-- 433 are unemployed (299 in 2011-2012);
• 415 have meanwhile registered in another school in Luxembourg (141) or abroad (274), mostly in Belgium (2011-2012, 304 young people were re-registered in Luxembourg and 271 abroad);
• 449 could not be reached despite the efforts of the ALJ (456 in 2011-2012). The vast majority of these alumni most likely left the country.
From young people being contacted by the ALJ, the reasons for dropping out have been found to be:
• academic failure (24.6%);
• wrong (academic) orientation (24.8%);
• inability to find an apprenticeship or termination of a contract (12.2%);
• lack of motivation to pursue an academic path or attend an old school (8.2%);
• personal reasons (7%).
