Despite increased enrollment, dropout rates remain a problem in the education system in Nepal. 36 out of 100 students who enrolled in grade one had dropped out by the time they reached grade ten (Ministry of Finance, 2021). According to another study published by the Government of Nepal, UNESCO, and the United Nations Children's Fund in 2016, dropout rates sharply increase after grade five and are highest in grade eight, with only 74.6% of students progressing from grade 5 to grade 8.

CEHRD (2021) reports that there are 3,780 children between the ages of 5 and 12 in Rautahat district of Nepal who do not attend school. In Rautahat, it is common for students to not attend school or drop out easily, partly because they can easily find work in India, which borders the district (Islamic Relief Worldwide, 2020).

Rautahat has the lowest literacy rate among all 75 districts in Nepal, and it is estimated that about one third of children in the district do not go to school. Despite the accessibility of schools nearby, many children in the district do not attend school (Thakur, 2013). Rautahat district has the lowest school performance rating in Nepal and this is often attributed to the high poverty rate in the district (Bhattarai, 2019).

During the 2018/19 academic year, over 100 children from Chetnagar Village in Chandrapur, Rautahat enrolled at the local Sindhure Ghari Secondary School. However, after only six months, none of these children are attending school. Instead, they can be seen playing in the village on school days (Puri, 2019).

There are several efforts made by the government, such as; free education for all up to the age of 16, free distribution of books and stationeries, scholarship provisions, mid-day meals, offer different training sessions to teachers and headteachers, and also sometimes support building of classrooms in required places. Moreover, the government has also worked with different stakeholders to improve the WASH facilities of the schools, make schools more accessible, and create a conducive learning environment for students. Furthermore, the government also initiates different campaigns to encourage students to go to school. It conducts enrollment campaigns every year at the beginning of the session (Ministry of Education, Nepal, 2020).

Despite all these efforts, the existing data on the numbers of out of school children and dropout suggests that, there is still room of more efforts and improvements to be made. Hence, this study aims to uncover some reasons as to why are students dropping out of schools and not attending schools despite schools being proximal in Rautahat district of Nepal.

The ecological systems theory will be used as a theoretical foundation for the research, which aims to understand the multiple factors influencing school attendance in children and their interrelationships between those factors. It identifies five environmental systems that an individual interacts with: the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. The microsystem refers to the immediate institutions and groups that impact an individual's development, including their family, school, and community. The mesosystem consists of connections between microsystems, such as the relationship between the family and the school. The exosystem involves links between social settings that do not directly involve the child, such as a parent's work environment or earning. The macrosystem refers to the overarching culture that influences the child, and the chronosystem includes elements that can change over time, such as historical events and transitions (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The research tries to comprehend the many aspects that affect children's school attendance by taking into account all of these systems.

Research Paradigm This study has been guided by interpretive paradigm. This is because this paradigm allows the researcher to closely engage with the respondents to deepen the understanding and perceive things and issues from their point of view. Interpretive paradigm aims to bring the practices of the participants and their reality. Additionally, the issues dealt by this research paradigm are normally subjective therefore this study is a qualitative research study. Population, Study Site and Sampling The data from the UNESCO report "Literacy Status in Nepal" showed that the district of Rautahat has the lowest literacy rate in Nepal. Therefore, the study was conducted in Rautahat using judgmental sampling. Out of the 18 municipalities in the district, only two were rural, and one of those named ‘Durga Bhagwati’ was randomly selected for the study. All of the17 public schools in the municipality were included in the study. The participants in the study included the headteachers along with two teachers from each school, 210 students in grades five to eight from all 17 schools, 13 parents of students attending any of the 17 schools, 5 community representatives from communities near the schools, and the municipality head and education officer of the rural municipality. The teachers, parents, and community representatives were all chosen using convenience sampling. The students were purposefully chosen to maintain best gender balance possible for focus group discussions. Data Collection Tools and Procedure Tools used for primary data collection was observation checklist, probing questions for focus group discussions, and semi-structured questionnaire for interviews. Preparation of these tools was guided by the knowledge generated from literature review, and research purpose. The observations were recorded through written descriptions, and the focus group discussions and interviews were conducted by the researcher using the questionnaire as a guide to ask relevant questions. The responses to the interviews and discussions were recorded in writing. The data collection took place over a period of six months, through multiple interactions with various groups of respondents. Ethical Considerations In order to remain ethical and stay strong on moral grounds, the sample school and the participants were informed about the study and its procedures. Also, the study was conducted only after receiving proper consent from them. Also, they were assured about confidentiality of the information provided and their identity. Furthermore, an ethical and comfortable behavior was maintained during interaction and communication too.

The major outcomes are analyzed and understood through different systems of Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. At the microsystem, the child's negative attitude towards the school system and the teachers' teaching methods can be seen as a result of the child's direct experiences within the school. Additionally, the norm of migrating abroad for work at a very young age has also been contributing to this negative attitude because the children have been seeing their peers succeeding and improving their lives through migration, leading them to view the education system as less valuable. At the mesosystem level, the negative perspective of parents towards the school, its management, and teachers have also influenced the child's attitudes towards the school. The children and their parents, are very concerned about their future because they feel that their school is not adequately preparing them for it. They have therefore started preparing themselves for their future in their own way based on their individual knowledge and capacity. At the exosystem, the government's policy of; liberal promotion is leading to children being promoted without ensuring learning, and sanctioning of deficient budget is impacting the student's proper learning experience at school. At the macrosystem, factors such as not sending children to school during festivals and seasons of harvesting and the opportunity cost of sending the child to school instead of farm or other wage work, can be seen as cultural and societal factors that impact the education system. At the chronosystem, the local level leaders at Durga Bhagwati Rural Municipality still haven’t taken a prominent step for the reform in education system. Additionally, the understanding of contribution towards school is still limited to resources distribution rather than focusing on improving the quality of education. Hence, it seems crucial to improve school performance, instead of just encouraging students’ school attendance.

Bhattarai, S. (2019). The last and least in Rautahat. Rautahat: Nepali Times. Bronfenbrenner , U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Carney, S., & Bista, M. B. (2009). Community schooling in Nepal: A genealogy of education reform since 1990. Comparative Education Review, 53(2), 189-211. CEHRD. (2021). Flash I report 2077 (2020-2021). Sanothimi, Bhaktapur: Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and Center for Education and Human Resource Development Nepal. Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage publications. Darling, N. (2007). Ecological systems theory: The person in the center of the circles. Research in Human Development, 203-217. Ettekal, A., & Mahoney, J. (2017). The SAGE encyclopedia of out-of-school learning. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc. Finn, J., & Cox, D. (1992). Participation and withdrawal among fourth-grade pupils. American Educational Research fournal, 141-162. Islamic Relief Worldwide. (2020). Hidden in plain sight: A study of child labour and human trafficking in Rautahat, Nepal. Washington DC: Islamic Relief Worldwide. Lenski, G. (2015). Ecological-evolutionary theory: Principles and applications. Routledge. Lincoln, Y. S., Lynham, S. A., & Guba, E. G. (2011). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences, revisited. The Sage handbook of qualitative research, 4(2), 97-128. Literacy mapping study team. (2013). Literacy status in Nepal (Literacy rate by age group 5 +) . Kathmandu: UNESCO. Ministry of Finance. (2021). Economic Survey 2020/21. Kathmandu: Government of Nepal. MoE, UNICEF, & UNESCO. (2016). Global initiative on out of school children – Nepal country study. Kathmandu, Nepal: UNICEF. MoEST. (2021). Nepal Education Sector Analysis. Kathmandu: Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Puri, S. (2019). A majority of Musahar children in a Rautahat village don’t go to school. Rautahat: The Kathmandu Post. Roy, R. R., & Sharma, B. P. (2019). Economic cost of absentee and dropout students in public schools of Nepal. The Economic Journal of Nepal, 1-11. Rumberger, R. (2008). Why students drop out of school: A review of 25 years of research. Santa Barbara: California Dropout Research Project, University of California. Shoultz, J., Oneha, M. F., Magnussen, L., Hla, M. M., Brees-Saunders, Z., Cruz, M. D., & Douglas, M. (2006). Finding solutions to challenges faced in community-based participatory research between academic and community organizations. Journal of interprofessional care, 20(2), 133-144. Thakur, M. (2013). Rautahat: The most child-illiterate district in Nepal. Kathmandu: Republica.