EC calls for measures to reduce school dropout

European Commission requires to Member States to take measures for reducing early school abandonment and increasing the number of graduates.

Data for 2011 published by Eurostat shows that Romania ranks second among countries with the lowest graduation rate among educated people aged between 30 and 34 years.

The rate for Romania is 20.4 percent, up with 2 percent from 2010, broadcasts the RRA correspondent Carmen Valica.

According to data invoked Friday by the European Commission on early school leavers, the percentage for Romania is 17.5 percent.The highest rates are recorded in Malta - over 33 percent and Spain - over 26 percent.

The European average is 13.5 percent, while the EU target for 2020 is that the rate to fall below 10 percent.

Eurostat defines the early school abandonment as percentage of young people between 18 and 24 who have no more than secondary level qualifications and do not participate in any form of education or training.

Poverty, the main factor of early school abandonment

The main question raised by UNICEF when it comes to drop out school is poverty.

Romania is the country with the highest proportion of poor children in the EU, according to a study by UNICEF.

Among countries who studied the situation, Romania is on the first place, with the highest percentage of poor children, followed by USA (23.1 percent), Latvia (18.7 percent), Bulgaria (17.8 percent) and Spain (17.1 percent).

25.5 percent of children live in poverty in Romania, according to the study "Measuring child poverty in developing countries", for which the situation was analyzed in 35 EU countries and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The author of the rapport, Peter Adamson, insisted that the child poverty rate is "the most important indicator for a society, because it shows how well the most vulnerable of citizens are defended."

The rapport also indicates a rate of children deprivation of products considered as basic in developed countries, such as three meals a day, books, money for school trips or two pair of shoes.

72.6 percent of children in Romania do not have two or more of these products and in Bulgaria, 56.6 percent of children are in the same situation.

Translated by Alexandra-Diana Mircea
MTTLC, Bucharest University