BALANGIR: With seasonal hostels meant for the children of migrant labourers closed, most such kids in the district have reportedly accompanied their parents to work in the sites away from home and education. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, seasonal hostels mostly stopped functioning in the district as the mode of education turned online. It is only in April 2022 that 18 hostels were made fully operational by the district administration to accommodate the children for six months.
As per sources, while 62 hostels were opened in 2019-2020 accommodating 2,448 children of migrant parents, soon after Covid-19 began, the hostels closed mid-way and the administration paid `1950 to each child.
Similarly in 2020-2021, 18 hostels functioned by providing food and education to 771 children besides making arrangements for their education. But in 2021-22, though the hostels should have started by November, the process was delayed till April this year, forcing migrating people to carry their children along.
Seasonal hostels started functioning in 2001-2002 in the district with the objective of helping children of migrant labours continue studies even when their parents leave for other states. Usually, the school campus turns into a hostel and children stay there. They are provided food and all other expenditures are borne by the government.
Such seasonal hostels are mostly opened in Balangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada and Bargarh districts from where large number of people migrate to other places in search of work..It is being estimated that 1.48 lakh migrants registered to return to Odisha during the first wave of Covid-19 and thousands of others came back without any record or registration. But the Labour department does not own up the data.
DEO of Balangir Dhruba Charan Behera said we are providing two meals and two-time snacks and the school campuses are being utilised for accommodating children. "The administration is trying to set up permanent seasonal hostels which will be functional round the year. This will facilitate the children of migrants to continue their studies," said Behera.