: The plantation sector in Peerumade taluk has the largest number of children in the ‘out of school’ category, as per data available with the Sarva Shiksa Abhiyan (SSA), a project aimed at universalising elementary education under the Education Department.
As per estimates, there are 328 children in the age group of five to 14 who are ‘out of the school’ in Peerumade taluk. They have been brought to special training centres under the SSA scheme, an official of the SSA programme told The Hindu on Friday. There are 12 training centres in the taluk and 51 students have been continuing the SSA programme since last year, he said.
SSA volunteers said a major problem they faced was the reluctance on the part of parents to send their wards to schools or the training centres, adding that it was owing to instability of the continued stay of migrant workers in the area unlike traditional Tamil workers. Though there is no official estimate of the number of migrant workers in the district, the plantation sector is said to be the largest employment provider followed by the construction and the service sectors. Unlike in the construction and service sectors, the plantations provide accommodation to the families of the workers in their estate lines.
There was an influx of migrant workers on the estates following labour shortage after a crisis hit the tea sector and better job opportunities were provided by a booming construction sector. The main migrant labourers in Peerumade taluk are from Assam. The traditional Tamil labourers migrated to other sectors or returned to their native places in search of better opportunities. Migrant workers were employed in their place, though they are yet to be employed in skilled works such as plucking of tea leaves and cardamom beans. The migrant labourers are employed mostly for replanting, weeds clearing, loading and log cutting.
The official said they had not covered remote areas and were trying to gain access to these places through the estate managements. About 90 per cent of the children in the ‘out of school’ category were those at the lower primary school level. The attitudinal differences of the children and the parents, different cultural backgrounds and language barriers were the main hindrance to bringing them to school or the training centres, he said.
After the tea crisis hit the Peerumade plantations, the taluk was the one with the largest number of school dropout, especially in the lower primary category.
The number of government and aided schools on grama panchayat basis in the taluk are as follows — Vandiperiyar (12), Upputhara (12), Elappara (10), Kokkayar (8), Kumily (9) and Peruvanthanam (10).
Under the SSA training programme, students are provided mid-day meals, school skits and uniforms free of cost.
At Ayyappancoil grama panchayat in Kattappana block, which is close to Peerumade taluk, seven students on an estate in Karimkulam are giving training under the SSA scheme, said district project officer George Ignatius.
