Members of NGO and teachers, who work on canvassing students in tribal areas to get admission in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), a residential school for girls from Class 6 to 8, say that they face an uphill task in convincing the parents to get admissions.
KGBV is implemented in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) where the female rural literacy is below the national average and girls belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Caste and minority communities are admitted. Eight schools that are run by the NGOs are functioning in the district in the blocks of Anthiyur, Nambiyur, T.N. Palayam, Kundadam, Mulanoor, Ammapettai, Sathyamangalam and Talavadi in which over 600 students are currently pursuing studies.
Rights Education and Development Centre (READ), a NGO based at Sathyamangalam, that runs the schools at Vadavalli in Sathyamangalam block said that currently there are 50 students pursuing studies of which 30 girls are from tribal areas. They are focusing on admitting students from Kadambur, Mavanatham, Kalithimbam, Arapalayam, Makkampalayam, Gundri, Kadahalli and other remote tribal hamlets in the hills that have no access to roads or schools.
Teachers, P. Divyapriya, V. Kavitha and A. Mariyammal, involved in canvassing said that after Class 5, many girls turn as dropouts while only a few continue their studies. Absence of schools in their areas, lack of transportation, and safety concern for girl child, child marriage, child labour and poverty keeps the girls away from the school. “Even after explaining the facilities at the school and the government assistance to students, convincing the parents to admit their wards in the school is very difficult”, said its director R. Karuppasamy. He said that parents were taken to the school and the facilities, including accommodation and quality of food provided, were explained to them. Also, students of parents who had completed their studies in the school also convince the parents to admit their wards in school.
Teachers said that awareness level among the parents continue to be low as many prefer to perform marriage for their child than sending to school.