Call to curb number of school dropouts from the fisher-folk

Increasing number of children from fishermen community dropping out of schools is “alarming” and continuous awareness programmes are needed to control the situation, said B. Madhusoodana Kurup, vice-chancellor of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) here on Tuesday.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a two-day awareness programme for children of fishermen at KUFOS.

The programme is being organised by the Department of Fisheries as part of the ‘Edu-Fest’ project being introduced by the Department.

Lack of proper education was one of the reasons for the backwardness of the community, he said. “Kerala is ahead of the other States in development index, but, unfortunately, the fishing community in the State is still remaining a marginalised section in the society”, he said.

The ‘Edu-Fest’ project is a programme to curb the number of dropouts and motivate students to learn further. Registrar of the University V. M. Victor George presided.