Editorial|The first results of raising the compulsory education age are encouraging, but the situation of young people with immigrant backgrounds is worrying.
Othe extension of compulsory education shows preliminary estimates by was the right solution. The compulsory education age was raised to eighteen in 2021. The hope was that every Finnish youth would complete a secondary degree. At the same time, it was believed that the number of school dropouts would decrease.
The first young people with extended compulsory education graduated in the spring. From this number, it can be concluded that the proportion of those who completed their degree in vocational education in three years has increased. In upper secondary schools, the graduation time has increased, but perhaps because some young people want to ensure good grades.
There are still too many school dropouts. Eight percent of those who started secondary education in 2021 left the education. Almost 11 percent of those who started in the fall of 2021 dropped out of the professional side, a couple of percent from high school.
In this group, it is particularly worrying that a large part of those who dropped out are young people whose mother tongue is neither Finnish nor Swedish. According to a recent study, the coping of young people and children with an immigrant background in Finnish society is problematic anyway. 61 percent of first-generation immigrant children have such poor reading skills that they may not have sufficient skills to continue in studies or working life. Even the reading skills of second-generation immigrant children are unacceptably low.
Lack of language skills can lead to an incomplete education. Interrupting education, on the other hand, increases the risk of marginalization.
Qsavings in the public finances are now being made, those who have dropped out of education seem to be falling through all the safety nets, and the mesh size of the nets is only getting bigger. Welfare regions, municipalities and third sector organizations do not fall under these drops due to funding cuts and insufficient cooperation.
People who have dropped out of education are not integrated into society either by working life – you can’t get to that without education.
The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS editorial staff, and they reflect the magazine principle line.
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