The farming community may have a different opinion, but a prolonged dry spell during monsoon has its own uses. Like, it helps in improving the attendance percentage in schools in rural areas.
“Yes, more children than is usual at this time of the year are attending schools at this juncture as they have no work in fields owing to the drought-like situation,” says A. Bhupati Reddy, in-charge head master of the Zilla Parishad High School, Tosham in Gudihatnoor mandal.
“Children normally help their parents in fields by taking up minor works or baby-sit at home when the latter are working in fields, he adds.
Attendance at the Tosham ZPHS has increased by about 15 per cent since about a month.
The attendance registers show a cumulative presence of 210 of the total of 250 students against the 170 to 180 during normal times.
“Children are of much use in agriculture due to the ease with which they are able to do specific works. For example, their supple bodies help them sow cotton quickly and transplant tomato plants,” points out Rathod Ravinder, whose son studies in the Tosham school.
“I am required to do all kinds of work in the field which results in absence from classes. As everybody else at home is also sitting idle now, I must catch up with studies,” observes Borkar Srilatha of SSC.
“Many children seek employment in agriculture fields owing to poverty. We do tell parents and students about the provisions of the Right to Education Act, especially the penal provisions, but it is of no avail,” Mr. Bhupati Reddy says pleading helplessness in the issue of curbing the practice of children working in fields during the sowing season.
