Factors Affecting School Dropout among Indian Youth: Evidence from India

School education provide a base for higher education which is important for human resource building of a nation. This paper based on data from the survey - “Youth in India: Situations and Needs Study”- conducted in 2006-07 in six Indian states. Attempt to address the reasons and factors behind discontinuation of school education. Cross Tabulations and Logistic regression has been used in the analysis. The preliminary findings show that as level of education increases the gender gap in school dropout decreases. There is a significant impact of mother's education on school dropout. Youth from the Muslim religion and socially marginalised groups have high dropout. It is also found that youth from poor households have reported economic reasons, while youth from rural area have reported school related reasons for dropout. The findings suggest that improvement in socio-economic conditions of family and state is necessary to retain the students in schools.