Development of Counselling Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Dropout among Tribal High School Students, Meghalaya

High school dropout is a major concern in Meghalaya. Although programs to reduced the dropouts rates have been introduced, there is no stress made on psychological aspects of a student’s mental health. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to identify at risk students of dropping out of school and also in developing a group counselling strategy that will promote academic success among all students particularly those at risk of dropping out of school. A quasi-experimental research design was used to test the effect of the group counselling strategy. Participants of the control group and experimental group was drawn from 78 current students at risk of dropping out of school. Paired sample t-test and Independence t-test were used to test and check any statistically significant change in the attitude of students in control and experimental group. Qualitative analysis from the intervention is done by coding, grouping into three main themes which includes- Negative belief and problem, Causes of Negative beliefs, Opinions to Improve Academic Performance. In conclusion, the study has shown that targeted group counselling of at-risk students can be effective method in reducing school dropout.