Post News Network
Nabarangpur, April 17: Making mockery of government’s ‘education for all’ programmes to curb dropout rates in the schools, students of Miriguda village under Papadahandi block in this district were found working in stone quarries, thanks to the truancy of the school teachers.
The teachers, block education officers (BEOs), ABEOs and cluster resource centre coordinators (CRCCs) were given special training by the administration to generate awareness among the guardians and students to continue their studies to reduce the dropout rates.
The aim was to bring the students who have left education in the middle back to the schools. But it seems to have failed miserably due to the soft approach of the officials and the teachers.
At present only 35 students of Class I to V attend to the classes whereas the number the student strength was 80 earlier. More than 50 per cent students have left study as only one teacher was appointed to take the classes. The children and their guardians prefer to work in cashew- orchards or stone quarries rather than going to schools. The engagers also find it lucrative to engage children in work as they charge very meager wages.
“The teacher doesn’t come to the school regularly. The officials don’t pay heed even as we approached them on several occasions. There is no sense wasting time in the school,” Narasingha Jani of the village said. His two sons Damin and Lalit who were studying in Class I, are helping him in a stone quarry. These two children crush the stones into chips in the quarry and earn some money in return.
Narasingha belongs to BPL category and has a ration card. With the rise of price of all commodities, it is difficult to run a family with the provisions available in the card and the earning of one member, Narasingha said, quipping the children add something to the family income.
Like many others, he too dreamt of giving proper upbringing to his children but it could not be as the schools are virtually running in erratic manner. Most of the schools suffer from the lack of teachers. Hence, Narasingha had no option but to discontinue the education of his children.
When contacted, ABEO Mahesh Saha said there are 12 schools in the block and each of them functions with only one teacher.
