VIJAYAWADA: Education department has launched a special drive to reduce school dropout rate in the erstwhile Krishna district. A comprehensive door-to-door survey was conducted by the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan sectoral officials and education secretaries. The officials have identified 2,305 students who have dropped out of schools due to various reasons.
The survey report revealed that a majority of the students who dropped out of schools belong to migrant families. For their convenience, the education department has established 26 Non-Residential Training Centres (NRTCs) in 16 mandals of the undivided Krishna district during the 2021-22 academic year. As many as 33 volunteers have been appointed to conduct special classes to make them cope with the syllabus on par with the regular students.
Apart from that, the department also made alternate arrangements for the students who didn’t attend the schools for six months. A proposal has been readied to establish 25 seasonal hostels (Residential Special Training Centres), where the responsibility will be entrusted to voluntary organisations to run seasonal hostels with a capacity of 50 students each. Accommodation and food facilities will be made available for the students at the seasonal hostels. The comprehensive survey report has been submitted to higher authorities and the steps will be taken to reduce student dropout accordingly.
Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan assistant project coordinator A Sekhar said that the survey has focused on reducing the student dropout rate ratio among the migrant families from Odisha, working in brick kilns.
During the survey, the officials identified around 300 dropouts from schools in G Konduru, Jaggaiahpet, Vatsavai and Myalavaram mandals in NTR district and Gannavaram mandal in Krishna district. Usually, the migrant families stay in the respective mandals for six months and move to their home towns during the Monsoon.
The majority of the Aadhaar cards of the migrant families have their address in Odisha, which has become a major obstacle for joining their children in the schools, the assiatant project coordinator said. “Following the directions from the higher authorities, we are taking all necessary steps to make the students of the migrant families join the proposed seasonal hostels and reduce dropout rate,” Sekhar said.