In the 2021-2022 school year, 14.1 percent of students left secondary education without sufficient qualifications. This is evident from the administrative data of the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training.
Source: belga
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The percentage of early school leavers increased between the 2014-2015 and 2018-2019 school years from 9.7 to 12.1 percent. During the first corona year (2019-2020), that percentage dropped to 9.4 percent. In 2020-2021, the percentage of early school leavers increased to 12 percent and in 2021-2022 to 14.1 percent.
In the 2021-2022 school year, 3.6 percent of students in general secondary education (aso) left school early, and 10.7 percent in technical secondary education (tso). In arts secondary education (KSO) and vocational secondary education (BSO), the figures were 12.9 and 22.7 percent respectively. At the Centers for Part-time Education (dbso), 59.2 percent of young people left education early.
Educational disadvantage
Only 1.8 percent of young people without educational disadvantage left school without a diploma in 2021-2022. Among young people with a school gap of 1 year, 21.2 percent left school early. The chance of dropping out of school increases sharply with each additional year of school delay.
Exactly 17.3 percent of boys left school early in 2021-2022, compared to 10.7 percent of girls. Among young people who do not speak Dutch at home with any family member, the risk of dropping out of school in 2021-2022 was more than three times higher than among young people who speak Dutch exclusively at home (27.2 and 8.5 percent respectively).
Among young people whose mothers have a higher education diploma, 5.4 percent left school early. Among young people whose mothers did not complete primary education, this rose to 35.3 percent.
