Post News Network
Jajpur, May 17: Even as a large number of children from slums and tribal dominated regions of this district have not even seen schools, a Sarva Sikhya Abhiyan (SSA) report on the status of school dropouts says only a boy has dropped out of school in the district.
Based on feedbacks received from various schools, the report says all girls of the district have been included in the SSA.
However, it appears the school authorities have provided only names on school registers to show an increase in enrolments and attendance while hundreds of children have dropped out to work as child labourers or domestic helps, sources said.
Launched in 2004, the flagship programme of Government of India to universalise elementary education is being implemented through the state government. According to the report, there are 2,52,517 children under 6-14 age group in the district. The number of boys is 1,32,108 and the rest are girls. While 88,578 boys and 40,041 girls have been enrolled in primary schools, 43,529 boys and 80,368 girls are in upper primary schools, implying only one boy in the district is out of school.
While the schools take pride in providing such ‘incredible’ statistics to the government, hundreds of children in rural and urban pockets of the district are yet to put their feet on school premises, according to sources.
Sources said, scores of children in the district quit studies after they reach Class IV or V due to financial problems. They then work as labourers or domestic helps to contribute to their family income but their names remain in school registers.
Government provides uniforms and text books for schoolchildren. Mid-day-meal programme has also been undertaken to attract children towards education. But school authorities, who deliberately don’t strike off names of the dropouts from school records, manage to misappropriate funds granted under these schemes, sources said.
Such wrongdoings go on unabated under the knowledge of inspecting officials in the district. Such irregularities can be exposed only with a high level probe in schools, they added.
Meanwhile, rate of girl’s education in the district is on a perpetual decline due to lack of proper infrastructure, primary teachers and indifference of education officials.
District project coordinator of SSA, Bishnucharan Sutar, said, however, said: “We came to know about 30 to 40 school dropouts at Jagannath Sahi of Jajpur Road. A proposal has been sent to the government to set up a residential school for them.” There are no reports of dropouts in other areas, he added.