every parent wants their children to study in a prestigious school...it is human nature . they believe that by doing so, their children are in safe hands....
Coming back to the original point of dropouts,if we look at the bare statistics correlation bewteen mass poverty and illiteracy is very pronounced. It's not the lack of interest but economic compulsions that lead to cases of dropouts! In West Bengal in the rural areas,the mid-day meal has been very successful.I hear Tamil Nadu too has been successfully experimenting this with some other states.
To decrease the percentage of dropouts homes including parents or elder members of family and schools including principals and teachers could play a vital role...!