Deputy Commissioner Takes Dropouts Back To School; Instructs Officials To Visit Houses & Have Students Resume Classes

According to a recent analysis of the Unified District Information System For Education Plus (UDISE+) released by the Child Rights and You (CRY), the total dropout rate in Karnataka has increased between the academic years of 2020-2022. These numbers were visibly high in the primary and upper primary levels of education. Following the release of the report, the South regional director of CRY, John Roberts, stated that it was crucial that adequate infrastructure be developed to ensure children do not have to miss school or drop out due to lack of access to basic necessities.

In an effort to bring a change within this pattern right from the local level, Deputy Commissioner R. Snehal of Yadgir district visited the villages and ensured that the dropouts were taken back to attend school. The incident that occurred on December 20 also had her placing an impetus on the school authorities to look into the issue of dropouts and have them return to classrooms with immediate effect.

Back To School In Government Vehicle

While the cause in itself remains unexplored on a larger scale, data suggests that about 67.5 per cent out of 6,608 children who dropped out of schools under the BBMP limits had to take up jobs as an alternate means of income for their families. Meanwhile, the other half are assumed to have dropped out after the pandemic, as many did not return to the classrooms after the lockdown restrictions were lifted. Bringing them back to school has been an issue that many officials have urged the school administration to take.

In a turn of events, during an official visit to the villages of Satyampet and Bijaspur in Shorapur taluk, Deputy Commissioner R. Snehal came across a few dropouts and decided to take them back to school herself. Snehal was visiting the villages as a part of the 'Zilla Adhikari Nade Halli Kade' and was hearing the people's grievances when she came across a few boys and girls who did not return back to their usual classes. Upon understanding that they were school dropouts, she took all of them in her vehicle back to school. According to a report by The Hindu, she also directed the school authorities to visit each house and ensure that all students who had dropped out of school were brought back.

Ensuring Reforms

During the official visit to the villages, Snehal made it a point to inspect the revised list of voters, visit retail outlets of the public distribution system (PDS), and take back the dropouts to school. She had arrived there as per directions issued by the Election Commission to check if the revision of voter identity cards was completed.

After cross-checking the names of voters, she was convinced that the insertion and deletion of names in the list were done properly. Following this, she also visited the PDS retail shop in Satyampet and suggested to the retailer to distribute grains properly and collect prescribed cash from cardholders. She announced to the villagers and retailers that any form of discrepancy in it would be dealt with strict action.

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