Trade units that employ dropouts under the scanner

The Chennai Corporation will monitor the activities of trades and parts of the unorganised sector that employ school dropouts.

At a joint review meeting organised by Chennai Corporation and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) on Wednesday, senior officials stressed the need for ‘a mechanism to identify dropouts and mainstream them’.

A number of trades in the city have reportedly been employing school dropouts. As many as 2,152 children have been found to be out of school in the city, according to a recent survey.

According to preliminary estimates, the number stood at 1,156 in June compared to 2,061 the previous year.

The identification of out-of-school children has been challenging owing to lack of support for the SSA from other government agencies.

The former is a government programme that aims at universal education for children in the age group of six to 14 years. Surveyors in each of the localities are still trying to ascertain if some out-of-school children have been overlooked.

Revised data collected as part of the survey pointed to at an increase in the number of dropouts in some areas. “Officials are concerned. Some students have been found to drop out of school to help their families financially,” said an employee who was part of the survey.

Following the meeting on Wednesday, the Corporation is planning to utilise its manpower to support the activities of SSA in various localities. Officials of the civic body will play an active role in mainstreaming the dropout children.

The Corporation will use the system of trade licensing to regulate trades that employ dropout students. The civic body will screen the more than 500 types of trades permitted in the city to identify modes of operation of agencies that employ dropouts. “SSA officials will share the modes of operation with the Corporation. Each Corporation School teacher will also trace dropouts,” said an official.