The number of children out of school in Chennai is on a decline. According to official sources, the number of dropouts has reduced from 2,519 in 2014 to 2,350 in 2015.
The highest number of students out of school has been recorded in Royapuram — 201. Many children belonging to homeless families on St. Xavier Street, Broadway, Seven Wells Street, Mannadi Street, Pidariyar Koil Street, Barracks Road and Pensioner Lane were identified this year. There have also been reports of resistance from residents to a survey of the dropouts.
“Homeless residents on the streets are concentrated in areas such as Royapuram. Students of such localities even hurl stones at teachers who go in search of them. Mainstreaming of such students is also a challenge for Block Resource Teacher Educators of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan,” said a teacher.
George Town has 132 students out of school, Periamedu 107, Perambur 150, Purasawalkam 98, Triplicane 106, Egmore 106, T. Nagar 87, Adyar 123 and Mylapore 141.
As many as 957 children have also been identified under the National Child Labour Project.
Even after Chennai Corporation planned to monitor the activities of permitted trades and unorganised sector to prevent employment of school dropouts, mainstreaming of the students remains a challenge.
State convener of Tamil Nadu Child Rights Observatory Andrew Sesuraj said many of the Corporation and government schools continue to keep dropouts on the rolls. “Teachers have to be more innovative to gain the trust of students who drop out of school,” said Mr. Sesuraj.
Most of the students belonging to homeless families have been found to drop out of school to help their families financially.
