Nuapada: As many as 318 students from Class I to VIII, who had dropped out of school due to various reasons, were readmitted to government-run schools at Nuapada block in Nuapada district under Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E) initiative. SATH-E is an education reformation programme of the central government.
A report said that there are around 17 clusters in Nuapada block alone which are coordinating with 150 government schools.
Block Education Officer (BEO) Resham Lal Naik found that a significant number of students from several schools had left their studies midway. Subsequently, a meeting was held to discuss the issue November 13.
Besides Cluster Level Coordinators (CRCs), the meeting was attended by headmasters of all schools in the cluster as well as panchayat members and a decision to identify and readmit the students was taken.
Following the instruction, Resham Lal Naik, assistant BEO (ABEO) Chaitaram Nayak, Radheshyam Meher, all the CRCs and headmasters visited various villages in the block and convinced the parents to send their children back to schools so that they can continue their studies.
ABEO Chaitaram Nayak pointed out that children from poor families were often discouraged by parents from attending classes and forced to support their parents in farming, housekeeping and herding livestock.
While distance between the students’ homes and school is one of the major factors, household works; physical deficiencies; poverty; lack of interest of parents and lack of awareness are some of the other reasons behind students dropping out of schools midway. Adolescent problem is also one of the major reasons behind girls dropping out of school education, added Chitaram.
It is observed that the 318 children, who have recently come back to school, are regularly attending classes and taking part in various co-curricular activities. Mid-day meals are also being provided. The kids have been provided with new school uniforms and new books in order to increase their interest in studies.
“We led the intervention bid with irregular and dropout children. We managed to motivate 318 poor dropout children to come back to school and they are now attending classes regularly. It was not easy to bring the students back to school. The families of the children were a challenge to us. We took the parents into confidence and told them about education and its importance. Finally, they agreed and are now sending their children to school,” said BEO Resham Lal Naik.
Sources said BEO Reshamlal himself visited Sarepali village in the block and managed to bring 10 drop-out students of the village back to school.
The efforts by BEO, ABEO and other officials of the block have been welcomed by all the residents of the district. The concerned citizens of the district demanded to expand the SATH-E project across the district.
Notably, SATH-E has been envisaged as a programme launched by NITI Aayog, which aims to transform elementary and secondary school education across three states including Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. SATH-E roadmap refers to a time-bound, goal-driven exercise that will reach its logical culmination by the end of the academic year 2020.