青少年問題研究系列＜三＞School dropouts have become a major problem since the implementation in 1978 of compulsory education up to the age of 15. In the past three years, over 17,000 children from Form 1 to Form 3 have been reported by their schools to the Education Department as suspected dropouts. The study examines the current procedure for handling dropout cases, problems and difficulties encountered by students before they drop out from school, and their comments on the services of the Education Department. The findings of respondents' experience of truancy, the process of violation of school regulations and expulsion, their reactions towards becoming a dropout shed much light for our understanding on the issue.