The moment of greatest risk of dropping out of school occurs in the age period between 15 and 18 years. These are adolescents who are finishing secondary school or beginning post-compulsory studies (FP or high school). But this abandonment does not occur equally in all students. In students whose families are not at risk of poverty it is 9% and, on the other hand, for adolescents whose families are, the percentage rises to 30%.
According to the Bofill Foundation, there are multiple causes, with economic capacity being one of the most important. Thus, a report presented this morning by the foundation, which has been coordinated by sociologist researcher Miquel Àngel Alegre, indicates that countries that have a significant scholarship policy for high school students reflect less dropout and less social inequality. For this reason, he demands from the Government, coinciding that the Spanish Government is going to transfer the management of the scholarships to the Generalitat, a scholarship policy with its own model, which benefits students whose families have a lower income.
"It is necessary for the Government to take advantage of the situation to articulate a solid and well-equipped scholarship program for secondary education, which focuses on students with fewer resources, who are at greater risk of dropping out prematurely," suggests Alegre. He estimates that the total cost would be 283 million euros (in ESO and post-obligatory) or 198 million only in secondary school, which would raise educational spending over GDP from the current 4.21% to 4.29%.
In this report, Bofill indicates that in 2022 there were 106,161 students between 3rd year of ESO and 2nd year of Baccalaureate and intermediate-grade vocational training at risk of poverty and that "only 28,324" had a study support scholarship. This is, in numbers, a total of 77,840 Catalan students. This figure may have changed in subsequent years as the Spanish Government increased the amount of scholarships by 20% in 2023.
In the 2020-2021 academic year, the Generalitat's investment in scholarships represented 3.4% (compared to 3.9% for the rest of Spain and 5.9% for the European Union). With 2022 data, 16.9% of non-university Catalan students received a scholarship (compared to 23.4% in the rest of Spain).
Low-income students have scholarships from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training but, in the opinion of the foundation, their amount, 1,500 euros per course, is insufficient. And, at the same time, many students do not claim it because they do not know it exists. "Many young people at risk of poverty, due to lack of knowledge or the bureaucratic complexity of the access procedure, do not request aid." This is the non-take-up phenomenon. There is no data on it in the educational field, but, Bofill assures, in 2021 only 6% of poor people in Catalonia with the right to the Minimum Living Income requested it.
The compensatory scholarships proposed by the foundation provide, in addition to increasing financial aid and reaching all students who need it, an increase in hours of guidance for students and their families, with 40 hours during the course for students from low-level families. of studies and 30 hours for the rest of the students.
Concrete proposal
1. Overcome the economic barrier. A modular economic allocation according to the level of needs of the student and the family, to combat the economic barrier that for many young people represents the fact of staying in school in the last years of ESO and the entire period of post-compulsory secondary school.
2. Overcome the barrier of lack of support. A program of orientation activities, to combat knowledge barriers, the lack of reference people for support within the centers and self-knowledge tools.
3. Overcome the information and bureaucratic barrier. Agile and simple access to the “Secondary Scholarship” program, to combat the informational and bureaucratic barriers that often discourage families with fewer economic and cultural resources from applying for aid and scholarship schemes.
