Nandapur/Padua: Despite the Central and state governments launching multiple education schemes to encourage students to continue their studies and parents to send their children to school, such efforts have failed to yield desired results in the Koraput district.
According to official data, the Koraput district has recorded as many as 19,578 dropouts, while 1,355 students between the ages of 7 and 18 have dropped out of schools in 23 panchayats under the Nandapur block alone.
This has led to an increase in child labour, observers said. Educationists blamed the rise in dropouts on shortcomings in government policies, while intellectuals and locals pointed to widespread illiteracy, poverty, poor infrastructure in schools and the long distance between villages and schools as major reasons for the increase in dropouts.
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They urged the Education department, block authorities and the district administration to take corrective measures to address the problem.
A recent government survey revealed that the number of dropouts in different panchayats of Nandapur block. As per the findings, there are 118 dropouts in Atanda, 109 in Badel, 24 in Balda, 14 in Bheja, 79 in Bilaput, 65 in Chatua, 47 in Khinbar, 28 in Golur, 98 in Hatibari, 153 in Nandaka, 79 in Nandapur, 62 in Khurji, 52 in Malibelgaon, 62 in Thuba, 72 in Raisingh, 51 in Kasandi, 29 in Khemunduguda, 68 in Hikimput, 39 in Padua, 27 in Kulabir, 39 in Panthalung, 26 in Kularsing and 13 in Paraja Badapada.
Similarly, 490 students in the Semiliguda block and 1,279 in the Pottangi block under the Pottangi Assembly segment of the Koraput district have also left school midway.
In total, 19,578 children have dropped out of schools across 14 blocks of the Koraput district, officials said.
Education experts have attributed the rising number of student dropouts to shortcomings in the Central and state governments’ Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the failure of schemes designed to attract children to schools, and ineffective awareness programmes targeting students and parents.
Intellectuals said factors such as Koraput district’s topography, poor economic conditions of residents, lack of school infrastructure, and the distance between villages and educational institutions are forcing rural children to abandon their schools for household chores and daily labour.
They added that child labour cases are increasing in the district. Responding to the issue, Nandapur Block Education Officer Bhabani Nandan Pattnayak said teachers appointed in the block are conducting door-to-door campaigns to raise awareness among parents and students.
Under the Right to Education Act, children in the 6 to 14-year age group are being re-enrolled in elementary schools based on their age.
For those above 15, efforts are being made to admit them into the State Institute of Open Schooling (SIOS) and include them in bridge courses designed by the department, Pattnayak said.
PNN
