CHENNAI: Over 1.3 lakh children dropped out of school from across the state, according to the data collated by the school education department during the ongoing out-of-school children survey. As part of the survey conducted for students upto 18 years of age, 4,04,088 students have been surveyed by 34,232 teachers, of which 1,38,821 students were not admitted to schools. A total of 9,175 students were enrolled in schools during the survey.
As per the survey, the dropout rates are high in districts like Salem, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri and Kanniyakumari. Officials from the school education department said that most number of the dropout children discontinued their education after Class 10 due to various reasons, including lack of interest in schools, health-related issues, lack of guidance, child marriages and child labour, apart from dropping out after failing in Class 10. The department was not able to reach a substantial amount of children due to migration.
However, officials said that the process of the survey has improved in the state. While surveys were conducted in August, October and January, the process to trace dropout children is ongoing round the year so that children can be traced whenever they drop out of schools, as was done during Covid-19 period, when many students who were getting transfer certificates from the schools were not admitted anywhere else due to economic issues, health issues and migration.
A top official from the department told TNIE, “We created a central database with help of the Education Management Information System so that there is a focus on potential dropouts who have not attended schools for 15 days. The intervention was made objective with help of the data and around 1.5 lakh students were targeted in August 2021. A mobile application was launched to conduct the survey and the movement of the surveyor was geo-tagged.”
“However, there are still obstacles in tracking the children who have migrated to different blocks and districts. As there are limitations in tracking the students with help of teachers, we will start training local body representatives and members of school management committee to involve them in the process and ensure all the children get education,” he added.
Meanwhile, staff involved in the survey said that students are now being enrolled in classes and there is no bridge course to help them. This could result in the students dropping out of school again. At present, only disabled children are taught in the special training centres of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme. When asked if there is any plan to provide a bridge course, department officials said that they are aware of the problem and they are taking steps to solve it.