Education officials from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Tajikistan and Timor-Leste will join approximately 200 experts and government representatives at a two-day summit in Washington to explore drivers of school dropout and strategies to keep children in classrooms, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Creative Associates International announced.
The "School Dropout Prevention Summit: Understanding the Causes, Sharing the Solutions" will be held at the Washington D.C. Hilton Hotel on 9 and 10 September 2015. The event—which will examine factors that affect dropout in developing and developed countries—includes sessions such as:
- Overview of Strategies to Address Dropout
- Early Warning Systems: A Foundation for Action
- Crime and Dropout Prevention Strategies
- Dropout Prevention in Conflict Settings, for Girls, and Youth Livelihoods
- Did It Work? School Dropout Prevention Pilot Research Findings on Dropout Intervention Impacts
Results from 4-country School Dropout Prevention Pilot Program
With support from USAID, Creative led a consortium of partners working on a five-year, four-country applied research project called the "School Dropout Prevention Pilot Program," which explored the drivers of dropout and then engaged government ministries, educators, communities, parents and students in sustainable solutions. The target countries in the programme were Cambodia, India, Tajikistan and Timor-Leste. Findings from the pilot will be shared by the country teams and Ministries of Education during the conference, along with other programme strategies and research.
Charito Kruvant, CEO, Creative Associates International commented, "There is not a single, simple solution to preventing dropout. Different approaches to address dropout have been tried, with varying degrees of success. This is an opportunity to review and discuss these efforts and what countries are planning in order to ensure that children successfully complete their education."