School dropout falls by more than 45% in Spain in 20 years

Madrid (EFE).- Early abandonment of education and training has fallen in all the autonomous communities constantly during the last two decades -except for a slight rebound last year- between 45.68% in Madrid and 73 85% from Navarra, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Education.

The analysis of the Active Population Survey published by Education reveals the existing territorial differences both in the dimension of this reduction and in the rates of early educational dropout, which in any case continue to be lower in the northwest third of the peninsula, as was the case before at the beginning of this century.

Thus, the lowest rates in 2022 were registered in the Basque Country (5.6%), Navarra (5.7%), Cantabria (8.9%), Galicia and Castilla y León (9.9%), Extremadura ( 10.8%), La Rioja (11.3%), Aragón (11.4%) and Asturias (11.5%).

Next on this list are the Canary Islands (11.7%), Madrid (13.2%) and Castilla-La Mancha (15.1%) and finally all the Mediterranean communities: Andalusia (15.3%), the Valencian Community (15.7%), Catalonia (16.9%), the Balearic Islands (18.2%) and Murcia (18.7%).

An analysis by the La Caixa Foundation of 2021, which drew attention to the “notable” territorial differences in this area, pointed out among the factors that explain this disparity the structure of the labor market, employment opportunities for youth, the type of occupations and their qualifications and the sociocultural and economic level of the population.

It also pointed to the different levels of investment in the educational system of the autonomous communities, since they exercise educational policy powers and have been very important agents of innovation.

Another study, in this case by Funcas, suggested as another cause that the low rate of school failure in some communities “does not reflect the learning of their students, but rather a tradition of scoring higher and passing more easily.”

Figures much lower than those of 20 years ago

While currently 18.7% in Murcia marks the highest rate of early leaving of education and training, two decades ago all the autonomous communities except the Basque Country (13.4%) exceeded that figure, with maximums in the Balearic Islands ( 39.9%), Murcia (39.4%), Extremadura (38.1%), Andalusia (37%), Castilla-La Mancha (36.7%) and the Valencian Community (36%).

In those 20 years, both communities with the highest and lowest rates have registered strong reductions, above 70% in Navarra (-73.85%) and Extremadura (-71.65%) and over 60% in Cantabria ( -66.42%), the Canary Islands (-65.18%) and Galicia (-63.74%).

A feature common to all territories is that the male dropout rate is higher than the female, to a greater extent in Murcia (10.1 percentage points of difference), Canarias, La Rioja (8.7 points in both cases) and Aragón (8.6) and to a lesser extent in Asturias (0.6 points), Cantabria (1.2), the Basque Country (2.8) and Madrid (2.9 percentage points).