Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 30: In view of the increasing number of dropouts of high school students every year, the School and Mass Education (S&ME) department Tuesday implemented a set of new guidelines for school dropouts with immediate effect.
According to the guidelines, if a child remains absent continuously for seven days without prior notice, the concerned class teacher of the school shall go to the child’s house, interact with the child’s parents and counsel the child to attend school.
In case of ten days’ continuous absence, the concerned headmaster of the school shall have to make a visit. If the child exceeds 15 days of continuous absence, the School Management and Development Committee (SMDC) members will visit the parents and counsel the child.
Moreover, if the child does not come back to school within three days of the counselling, the block education officer shall pay a final visit in order to convince the parents to send their child to school.
Finally, if the child stays absent for 30 days after all these efforts, he/she will be identified as an ‘Out of School (dropout)’ which will be mentioned in the admission and attendance register.
Also, if a child comes to the school after thirty days of continuous absence, the child will be re-admitted and will be provided remedial classes. Parents may be asked to give an undertaking that their ward will not remain absent from school anymore for more than three days.
As per the guidelines, a child-friendly counselling centre will also be proposed for each school where children remaining absent for more than 15 days will be counselled on a fortnightly basis.
