13.9% of students who studied ESO in the Balearic Islands left this stage without having obtained the title, according to data from the 2020-2021 academic year. This is one of the main conclusions of the second Report on the economic cost of academic failure prepared by Dide.org, the international educational technology company.
In this sense, the Islands are below the national average which is set at 14.1%. Below this average, in ascending order, are the Basque Country, Cantabria, Navarre, Asturias, Canary Islands, Catalonia, Galicia, Madrid, Aragon, Balearic Islands and Extremadura. Above are the Valencian Community, Castile and León, La Rioja, Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia, Ceuta and Melilla.
At the national level, academic failure at different educational levels in Spain generated an additional economic cost of 4,960.2 million euros during the 2023-2024 school year. which represents an increase of 7.9% compared to the previous year.
This figure includes the costs of repeating a year in primary education, ESO and Baccalaureate (1,232.7 million), non-use of resources due to academic failure at ESO (1,426.2 million) and early dropout Baccalaureate (457.1 million, Diploma (899.4 million), intermediate diploma (492.6 million) and higher diploma (452.2 million).
For the CEO of Dide.org, Elena Betés Novoathe report’s economic figures have a translation that “should cause concern due to its social and family consequences”, reports Europa Press.
Concretely, the study specifies that 175,992 students repeat primary education, ESO and baccalaureate, 199,166 students complete ESO without a higher education diploma and 290,889 students abandon post-compulsory and higher public education before to end.
“These are figures that could be significantly reduced through the application of technological tools for early detection of difficulties. Obtaining maps of students’ needs would allow the adoption of appropriate intervention measures, which would result in greater efficiency of educational investments and better social development, taking advantage of all their growth potential”, affirms Betés Novoa.
The report shows that the rate of reverse aptitude (15-year-old students who are not in the class that corresponds to them by age) is between 11.3% in Catalonia and 42.8% in Ceuta, with a national average of 24.6%. As for twelve-year-old students, this average rate is 11.6%, varying in this case between 4.7% in Catalonia and 18% in Ceuta.
Another key aspect in the calculation of the additional economic cost is that of early dropout, understood as the population between 18 and 24 years old who left their studies at the beginning of 2023.
In this regard, the report estimates that the Spanish average for school dropouts was 13.9%. In this case, the rates vary between 6.5% in the Foral Community of Navarra and 21.2% in Ceuta. In the case of the Balearic Islands this figure is 18%.
The research also analyzes the historical evolution of the early dropout rate from 2005 to 2023. In this case, a “clear downward trend” is observed, with the exception of the periods between 2006 and 2008 and between 2020 and 2022 ( pandemic crisis).
The report estimates that, for every 10% reduction in early dropout rates in the educational stages considered in the analysis, through the application of tools for early detection of difficulties and the adoption of appropriate measures, ” a reduction of 230 million euros.
This would also involve helping a total of 29,089 students to stay in the corresponding stage until they successfully complete it, as the study concludes.
