The word desertion comes from the verb to desert, which means to abandon or stop doing something that was being done at some level or context.
give up or stop doing something
The term is used mainly in two institutional areas that both have to do with the fulfillment of a task that takes several stages or moments: one of these institutions is the army and the other is the school.
Military desertion: leaving the military or failing to complete military service as scheduled
In either of the two cases, desertion is understood as a negative phenomenon, although in the case of the army it has a meaning that is much more related to crime and in the case of school it is usually understood as a social problem with a difficult solution.
When we talk about desertion in the military, we are referring to something that is considered in most cases as a crime.
Basically this type of desertion consists of not complying with compulsory military service or leaving the army, whatever the rank that one has.
A cowardly and punishable act
This is so since the individual who leaves the institution once they have finished their degree and can already carry out their activity is seen as someone who does not want to defend or serve the Homeland to which they belong.
Therefore, this act is seen as cowardly and considered a very serious crime at the institutional level.
Depending on the place and the legislation that each national or local army maintains, desertion can be punished with the most serious punishments, even involving the death penalty if the country in question still maintains this form of punishment.
The deserter, as the person who assumes this behavior is called, can also be sent to jail as punishment for his actions.
It is common for deserters, once they make this decision, to leave their country of origin and take refuge in others to avoid the harsh punishments that, as we have already said, this action has planned.
It is important to point out that according to this meaning of the word, desertion is the result of an individual personal decision.
School dropout: dropping out of primary or secondary school due to unfavorable socioeconomic causes.
In the case of school dropout, we are talking about a deeper problem since, although it is also part of the individual decision that each student makes, we can only talk about dropout when the number of students who drop out begins to be significant over the Total number of students enrolled.
Thus, the fact that a single person abandons their studies is not necessarily considered a school dropout.
It is believed that in most cases the high dropout rates are due to social problems related to poverty, misery, lack of expectations, unemployment, overemployment (which prevents adults from finishing their studies) , the impossibility of thinking about a better future, etc.
Dropout occurs in the primary and secondary stages, while when it occurs in the first the situation is more serious and difficult to reverse.
Now, a child does not stop going to school from one day to the next and for only one reason, but rather there are several factors that come together for that to finally happen.
A context in which deficiencies prevail, the lack of containment and family support that favors and encourages going to school to study and identifies it as a means of personal improvement, difficulties that prevent fulfilling school obligations, poor grades , problems with the peer group, are some of the most frequent causes of school dropout.
Solutions: public policies that improve content and contain the most disadvantaged population
All these causes are not easy to solve and many times they entail a deep and arduous work by those responsible for the areas of education that takes a long time and years before giving the first positive results.
Undoubtedly, this problem of school dropout is a real challenge to be faced and solved by those countries that suffer from it, mainly those that are developing or that have high poverty rates.
There are various public policies that can be implemented to promote integration and encourage those who decide to leave school because they do not find the content attractive or because their disadvantaged contexts do not arouse aspirations for progress for tomorrow.
However, we must say that these policies must be accompanied by many others tending to improve the socioeconomic conditions of the most vulnerable classes, which are precisely the ones that are furthest away from school, and that is to say that, paradoxically, they are the ones that need it the most because Instruction is the great provider of possibilities to achieve a better and better future.
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