The main reasons for non-attendance can be classified as follows:
I. Factors Related to Home-background:
(a) Poverty and inability to pay the expenses on education.
(b) Illiteracy and ignorance of parents concerning the benefits of education.
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(c) Undesirable or negative or indifferent parental attitudes towards education.
(d) Necessity to work and earn on the part of a student to supplement parental income.
(e) Necessity to look after younger siblings on the part of a girl child.
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(f) Girls may have to fulfill their domestic duties of cooking cleaning and looking after the home which prevent them from going to school.
(g) Unhappy events, deaths, quarrels, sudden arrival of guests, marriage in the family, etc. also lead to short absence from schools.
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II. Factors Concerned with the Student:
(a) Indifferent or negative attitudes of a child towards education, school, teachers, curriculum or peers.
(b) Lack of interest in studies, laziness.
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(c) Inability to cope with the curriculum.
(d) Students’ strike on invalid grounds.
(e) Truancy – either individual or group.
III. Factors Concerned with the School:
(a) Unconducive, uncongenial school environment.
(b) Unduly strict, harsh disciplinary measures and inconsistency in dealing with rule infractions.
(c) Uninspiring teaching methods or faulty evaluation procedures.
(d) Unhealthy relationship with teachers, problems with teachers’ morale, lack of motivation among teachers.
(e) Frequent absenteeism or turnover among teachers.
(f) Lack of infrastructural facilities like proper school building and rooms, toilets, blackboard, equipments, etc.
(g) Unfavourable location of the school or unsuitable timings and time-table.
(h) Lack of transport facilities provided by the school
(i) Poor personality of teachers, inadequate number of teachers in the school, lack of qualified teachers in the school.
IV. Factors Concerned with the Local Community:
(a) Lack of educational institutions in the locality within walkable distance.
(b) Inadequate transport facilities.
(c) Communal tensions, strikes affecting transport and communication, war, riots, bomb blasts, civil strikes, etc.
V. Factors Concerned with Nature:
(a) Natural calamities like earthquakes, fire, flood, heavy rains, excessive heat or cold, drought, famine, etc.