The term is used mainly in two institutional settings 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. In either case, desertion is understood as a negative phenomenon, although in the case of the army it has a meaning much more related to crime and in the case of schools it is usually understood as a social problem with a hard solution.
The word desertion comes from the verb desertar which means to abandon or stop doing something that has been done in some plane or context. Give up or stop doing something
Military desertion: leaving the military or failing to perform military service as scheduled
When we speak of desertion in the military sphere, we are referring to something that is considered in most cases as a crime.
Basically this type of desertion consists of not fulfilling the compulsory military service or leaving the army, whatever the rank one has.
A cowardly and punishable act
This is so since the individual who leaves the institution once having finished his career and being able to exercise his activity is seen as someone who does not wish to defend or serve the country to which he belongs.
Therefore, this act is seen as cowardice 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 penalties, even carry 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 note 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 normally unfavorable socioeconomic causes
In the case of school dropout, we are talking about a deeper problem since, although it also starts from 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 on the total enrolled students.
Thus, a single person dropping out of their studies is not necessarily considered school dropout.
It is believed that in most cases the high school dropout rates are due to social problems related to poverty, misery, lack of expectations, unemployment, over-employment (which prevents adults from completing 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 former the situation is more serious and difficult to reverse.
However, a child does not stop going to school from one day to the next and for one reason only, but 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 privileges 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 resolve and many times involve a deep and hard 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 resolved by those countries that suffer from it, especially those in the developing world or those with high rates of poverty.
There are various public policies that can be implemented to promote integration and encourage those who decide to drop out of school because they do not find the content attractive or because their disadvantaged contexts do not awaken aspirations for progress for tomorrow.
Now, we must say that these policies must be accompanied by many others aimed at improving the socioeconomic conditions of the most unprotected classes, which are precisely those that are furthest away from school, and it is worth saying 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.
