Three children were admitted to schools and seven children to anganwadis (pre-school) thanks to the Special Enrolment Drive for ‘out-of-school’ children undertaken by the district administration at the migrant workers colonies here on Monday.
Officials of five government departments were involved in the drive. As a part of the drive, a team of officials from various government departments under the stewardship of the Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat S.A. Prabhakar Sharma visited the migrant workers’ colonies at Beedinagudde and Hanumantnagara in the morning.
They found 10 children who were not going to schools/anganwadis in these colonies. A few migrant workers complained of lack of conveyance for their children to go to schools and also about lack of facilities at the Beedinagudde anganwadi.
Mr. Sharma assured them that he would send the Child Development Project Officer to the Beedinagudde anganwadi to enquire about the condition there.
He also directed the officers of the Department of Public Instruction to look into the problem of conveyance.
P. Nagaraj, Deputy Project Coordinator of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, told The Hindu that two children were admitted to the Volakadu Government Higher Primary School, while one child was admitted to Hanumanthnagar Government Higher Primary School in the city. Seven children (aged between three and six years) were admitted to two anganwadis (pre-school) in the city.
“As per the Right to Education (RTE) Act, all children aged between six and 14 had to be admitted to schools,” he said.
The special enrolment drive would also be held at migrant workers’ colonies at Karkala and Kundapur, Mr. Nagaraj said.
Concern
Mr. Sharma said that children not attending schools were likely to end up as child labourers. If the parents had problems in taking care of their children, they would be admitted to pre-metric hostels, where free food and accommodation was provided.
Nutritious food was provided for both the children and pregnant women at anganwadis. Some children, though admitted to schools, were not attending classes. They required encouragement.
“We are also giving importance to convincing the migrant workers so that they realised how important it is to provide education to their children,” he said.
Officials from the departments of Public Instruction, Social Welfare, Labour, Backward Classes and Minorities, and Women and Child Welfare, participated in the drive.
