Chennai, September 8 (BPNS)
A survey cum study undertaken by the Samgra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu has ensured that around 60% of the school students who had dropped out of classes during the pandemic were relocated back to schools.
The study undertaken from August 10th by the SSA with the support of Government and private school teachers have traced a large number of students who had otherwise dropped out of the classes due to pandemic. The Education Management Information System (EMIS) portal of the government of Tamil Nadu updates the status of students who does not rejoin the classes.
The SSA team found that in Coimbatore district out of the 6,07,258 school students, 24, 977 students were found to be not engaged in school activities when tracked using the EMIS portal.
A senior official of the SSA who does not want to be named as the list of other districts are in the process of finalizing said,” In Coimbatore district we could trace that 24,977 students were not seen actively involved in school related activities. If students do not involve in education-related activities for a month, we consider them out of school.”
The SSA team along with the school teachers found that most of these students who do not attend classes had left Coimbatore district following the loss of jobs of their parents due to Covid -19 pandemic. The team could trace that most of these students were in the native places of their parents and with the support of the SSA district authorities in the respective districts were able to reenroll these students in the schools and other educational institutions in the respective districts where they were based now.
The survey , according to the SSA official have ensured that the students are returning back to the schools in one district or the other and some are opting for Industrial Training Institutes ( ITIs) and some in polytechnics after the tenth standard classes and school students below tenth classes have rejoined in schools in the districts after relentlessly pursuing the students and their parents.
The SSA official said ,” We have traced down the educational status of 21000 students who have dropped out of school in Coimbatore district and have ensured that 60% of these students are back to schools and also ITIs and Polytechnics.”
SSA officials are trying to trace down the remaining students and bring them back to schools.
The survey also found that parents were using their children as helpers in farming as well as the rearing of cows, goats, and hens and with lack of awareness were disapproving of the children returning to schools. However, with the SSA’s and teachers intervening the parents have reluctantly allowed the children back to school.
The SSA official said, “It is a cumbersome task and we feel that follow-up is necessary so that the students do not drop out of their classes and teachers have ensured us total support in this. The SSA will also network with the respective districts and see to it that the children are continuing in schools.”
