The government has declared 50 of the 54 mandals in Kurnool district as drought-hit due to about 50% deficit rainfall. This drought has been driving scores of farmers out of the district in search of work, which is having a huge impact on the children’s education. The people who migrate from the district are also taking their children as there is no one to take care of them back at home.
According to data acquired by The Hindu , the authorities have identified 22,488 children have dropped out or discontinued their education in the district. Kurnool district stands top in the State in the number of children dropping out of schools, followed by East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Guntur and Anantapur districts.
Explaining the details of the issue, Human Rights Forum State secretary Devendra Babu has said that the number is higher in 2019 because people had started migrating earlier than usual. “Generally, people migrate over to other regions starting December, but due to the drought people started migrating around September,” he added.
He also said that the migration is higher among the students who study in the third, fourth, and fifth classes.
The district officials have taken notice of the issue and started to chalk out plans to prevent migration. District Collector S. Satyanarayana has said that the number of seasonal hostels are being upped from 80 in 2018 to 146 in 2019 with a budget of ₹8 crore.
The ‘Manabadiki Podam’ programme, in which the respective officials go door-to-door and take note of dropouts, and re-enrol them in schools is also being strengthened.
Orientation meeting
Mr. Satyanarayana had also held an orientation meeting on Saturday and instructed the officials to take special care on the issue. He later told The Hindu , that village, mandal and district level committees would be formed to take appropriate action.
However, data shows that Kurnool has exceeded its targets in 2018 when it comes to total enrolment of children into schools. For 2018-19 the targets were set at 6,64,222 but the total students enrolled were 6,76,960 which is over the target by 12,738.
The migration is largely due to drought which is due to deficit rainfall. As the officials expect a healthy rainfall this year, coupled with the fact that more seasonal hostels are being opened up, the number of children dropping out should see a drastic reduction by the year 2020.
