Capturing the voices of school drop-outs in Bhutan

This paper captures the voices of students who dropped out of school in Bhutan. The aim of the study was to document student experiences in terms of what led them to drop-out of school and how they could have been supported to remain in school. A total of 158 participants (male 118 and female 40, between the ages of 13 to 44) from both Youth Development Centers and Rehabilitation Centers completed a self-developed questionnaire. Data was analyzed by the researcher, who created deductive constructed-analysis to identify broad and unique qualitative themes. Results showed that the majority of students dropped out of school due to individual and school related reasons such as lack of finances and lack of teacher support. Some of the major qualitative themes for dropping out of school ranged from poor family background followed by drug abuse, to lack of support, and negative life experiences. However, most students reported that they would have continued education if they had received some level of academic and personal support. Implications of the study are discussed.