BALLARAT has the highest school drop-out rate in the state.The Grampians region, which includes Ballarat, has a lower high school retention rate than any other country region.The retention rate for Year 7 to 12 students was 64.6 per cent last year, well below the city school rate of 85.8 per cent.Pregnancy, bullying, feelings of isolation and disengagement with learning are all reasons kids drop out of school in Ballarat.About 140 students who have left mainstream schooling attend LinkUp at Ballarat Learning Exchange. Campus principal Kay Johnston said about half the students aged between 13 and 21 years were young mothers."Pregnancy is a significant factor,'' she said. "(But) The reasons are many and diverse."These kids come to us because they have had trouble in mainstream schools and the approaches haven't worked for them.''Research professor of education John Smyth from the University of Ballarat said country schools traditionally had higher drop-out rates than city schools."One thing is really clear, the further you move away from metropolitan areas the lower the school retention rates are,'' he said."These kids are much more susceptible to the ups and downs of the economy,'' he said.Prof Smyth said there were fewer role models who had undertaken higher education in the country. "Whereas in the metropolitan areas there's a lot of access to universities and much greater opportunities for people.''"These kids often have trouble seeing a longer term connection to what they're doing in school and five years down the track.''Leader of The Nationals Peter Ryan criticised the State Government saying the drop-out rate of students from regional high schools had increased over the past seven years."While retention rates in metropolitan schools have remained steady at 85 per cent, retention rates have declined alarmingly in every Victorian country region since 2002,'' he said."The Brumby government is risking the future of regional Victoria by refusing to listen to families and properly resource regional education.''A spokesman for education minister Bronwyn Pike said the Labor Government had invested $137 million in 97 schools in the Grampians region since 1999."The Brumby Labor Government is making an unprecedented investment in education so that every child, no matter where they live, can do better at school,'' he said. "Victoria continues to have the highest Year 12 or equivalent completion rate of all Australian states rising from 81.8 in 2000 to 86.8 in 2009."