CHENNAI: Ahead of its citywide survey to identify out-of-school children, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on Tuesday organised a special camp at the Ezhil Nagar Middle School in the TNUHDB resettlement site, helping 409 children obtain essential documents needed for school admission, re-enrolment and scholarships. An official release said appropriate action is being taken on the applications received during the camp.
Documents such as Aadhaar cards, birth certificates, community certificates and income certificates are essential for school-going children, especially those studying in Classes 10 and 12. “Though most children drop out due to family circumstances, lack of such documents remains a major hurdle when trying to re-enrol them or getting the vulnerable kids the scholarship,” a GCC official told TNIE.
The official stated that the corporation plans to launch its out-of-school survey by mid or end of August, and the camp was organised to ensure children in the area had the necessary documents ready. Besides, the special camp enabled children who have lost their parents to apply for the Anbu Karangal scheme, which provides a monthly education scholarship of `2,000 valid up to Class 12.
When TNIE visited the camp, several school-going children and some out-of-school students were seen applying for missing documents. In some cases, however, applications could not be processed immediately because the parents themselves lacked documents such as Aadhaar and community certificates.
Chitra V (31), a resident of Ezhil Nagar, said she has been raising her two children alone after her husband abandoned the family.
“My children were out of school for five months. It was only after NGO IRCDUC intervened that they were able to return to school. Before leaving, my husband tore up my Aadhaar card and other documents. I managed to get a voter ID only during the recent election. Now, officials are asking for my Aadhaar to issue Aadhaar for my children. I can apply for theirs only after I receive mine,” she said.“My nine-year-old son doesn’t have an Aadhaar or community certificate. His birth certificate does not include my initials, while my Aadhaar does. We are still waiting to see if his Aadhaar enrolment will go through,” said Rekha G (30), another parent.
A corporation official said, “A community certificate application goes to three persons - the VAO, the revenue inspector and tahsildar - before it gets processed. However, today all three were brought to the camp to speed up the process, though we did face some server issues.”
Vanessa Peter, founder of IRCDUC said, “Similar camps on a periodical basis at resettlement sites are necessary to regularly address the documentation needs of the students, while enabling the out-of-school children to re-enrol in schools.”
GCC to launch dedicated mobile app for survey
Officials said GCC is developing a dedicated mobile application to carry out the out-of-school survey. Through a door-to-door survey, details of all students at resettlement sites including Kannagi Nagar, Ezhil Nagar, Semmencherry, and AIR Tsunami Quarters will be entered into the app, enabling officials to identify out-of-school children, classify them based on their needs and monitor follow-up measures. Vulnerable children at high risk of dropping out of school will also be identified for regular monitoring.
