Baripada: The district administration has identified 4,831 children, who are still out of schools in Mayurbhanj. They will be admitted to various schools and hostels by November 14.
Collector Vineet Bhardwaj held a press meet at the Collectorate here Tuesday regarding this, and said the administration plans to provide education to all dropouts.
He said 2002 children in the district are not going to schools for a long time and the number of dropouts is 2,638. Of them, 191 have not taken admission in any school.
“The administration has initiated the process to get these children admitted in schools by November 14. A subject-wise yardstick has been made for students to test their knowledge in classrooms. All students need to ensure equal focus on all subjects and teachers will have to pay attention to teaching all children equally. If students are found lacking in any subject the teacher will be taken to task,” he said.
Another meeting was held at the Collectorate on the issue Monday. An agenda was prepared to identify these kids by September 20.
The district administration has been striving to bring kids to schools under the ‘Mu Bi Padhibi’ programme since April 1, 2013.
Under the programme, around 6,000 dropouts aged between 6 and 14 years have been admitted to schools with accommodation and food. This is aimed at making the district child labour free. Many children have been rescued from hotels, garages, dhabas, restaurants and industrial units.
The main reason for child labour is poverty of their families. The district administration has also taken steps to support their families.
The ‘Mu Bi Padhibi’ programme was the brainchild of former Collector Rajesh Prabhakar Patil. After he was transferred, the drive almost came to a halt. Now, the administration has revived attempts to bring back dropouts to schools.
Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority project director Bhupendra S. Punia had directed the district administrations and district education officers in June to identify dropouts.
The Mayurbhanj administration held a meeting in the presence of Collector Vineet Bhardwaj on the issue and asked district labour department officials to rescue children from hotels, garages, eateries, restaurants and industrial units. Anganwadi workers, teachers, CRCCs and sarpanchs were asked to help labour officials in the drive.
Special meetings were held in all panchayats August 18, and all sarpanchs prepared reports about children who were not going to schools.
PNN
