Following a survey undertaken to identify dropouts from schools owing to the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, the School Education Department is continuing its efforts to reach out to children who have dropped out or have not been able to return to schools since they reopened.
Through a virtual meeting, the department discussed and sought feedback from representatives and volunteers with civil society organisations and NGOs on the way forward and how they can reach out to more children and bring them back.
Schools in Tamil Nadu were shut for over 19 months owing to the pandemic and only in November, reopened for students of Classes I to VIII. Senior students got back to campuses in September. The prolonged closure of schools and economic as well as social impact of the pandemic had led to many children from underprivileged communities dropping out of school. Teachers, through the pandemic, had said that they found it hard to stay in touch with these children and ensure that some learning continued.
Speaking about the efforts of the department to trace and reach out to students who had dropped out, R. Sudhan, State Project Director, Samagra Siksha, said that in the months of June and July, they began to identify potential dropouts using their centralised information system.
“Nearly 4.99 lakh children were identified as potential dropouts. In the first week of August, a survey exercise was started where teachers, Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTEs) and DIET staff visited the houses of these children to find out if they were still enrolled in schools and were planning to return once campuses reopened,” he said, to The Hindu.
The functionaries involved in the survey were given an app linked to the EMIS student database. The app, which had a GPS tracking system ensured that only when they were at the residence of the student could they enter the necessary information. “About 1.38 lakh students were tracked by these officials who then spoke to them and their families, and ensured that they didn’t drop out. As of September 1, the department was still in the process of reaching out to 83,000 children to bring them back to schools. We are yet to analyse data pertaining to around 60,000 students. But we have verified that the rest among the potential dropouts identified have either shifted to private schools or have migrated to other States,” Mr. Sudhan said.
Since schools have now reopened for all classes in Tamil Nadu, the department is now working on taking stock of how many students are back on campus. “Over a period of time, we aim to work in a targeted manner and ensure that the number of dropouts are brought down. There are numerous reasons — ranging from children being sent to work, non-availability of transport and even child marriages that keep children away from school and we hope to work in coordination with other departments and organisations working on the field,” he added.
Representatives from civil society organisations and NGOs, who participated in the meeting on Tuesday, were also briefed about the newly-launched Illam Thedi Kalvi scheme and how the volunteer network here could be leveraged to share information about children who are out of school in the community they would be working with. An action plan is now being formulated on how best to involve the district administration, school management committees and panchayat presidents.
A. Devaneyan, director, Thozhamai, said district-level convergence meetings, involving the local panchayats and members of the village-level child protection committee, district administration and officials from the School Education department, would help bring about an effective action plan.
“We have also stressed on the need for more efforts in urban pockets to identify students who haven’t come back to school,”' said Virgil D’Sami, director, Arunodaya. She said that close coordination with the Labour department to identify children who have gone on to work in textile mills and factories during the pandemic was needed as well.
