Zero Drop-Out

Early drop-out is one of the foremost challenges facing the Catalan educational system. Although the early drop-out figures have been reduced in recent decades, Catalonia still leads the countries with the most lowly qualified young people without post-compulsory education.

Last year more than 97,000 young people in Catalonia between the ages of 18 and 24 years had left school early without any degree beyond that of compulsory secondary school. This is equivalent to the capacity of the Camp Nou football stadium, or 3,200 full classrooms.

The economic crises, educational policies such as the ones aimed at reducing the repeating of grades, the sustained rise in compulsory secondary school graduations, and the promotion of vocational training have helped to reduce early school leaving. However, these incipient measures do not suffice to achieve a drastic reduction of the problem and early drop-out could start to increase again in periods of economic recovery.

For all these reasons, Fundació Bofill is launching a Catalonia-wide plea to call for an emergency plan of action to combat school drop-out. Sign the manifesto!

With the Zero Drop-Out project, we wish to provide knowledge about the scope, characteristics and consequences of early school drop-out, together with proposals for public policies and measures addressed specifically to eradicating this problem in Catalonia.

The consideration of the fight against early school drop-out as a national goal forms the basis for a paramount equity policy since extending the educational pathways of the thousands of young people who are now leaving school early would mean a significant improvement of their job outlooks and life opportunities.