Peers to help absentees to come back to school

Now, the Maharashtra government expects school students to help it out in luring out-of-school children back.

After trying every other means to get such children to return to school, the government now plans to use students for a daily survey. Students from every class will be asked to keep an eye on children in their neighbourhood who are not attending any school and submit their details to their respective schools.

According to data available with the government, the number of children who are enrolled in school and not regular in attendance is much higher than the numbers of school dropouts.

“It is a matter of concern for the government as it is difficult to collect data on such students. For the first time, the state has decided to take students’ help in collecting data on such students. They are generally aware about other children of their age. They can keep an eye on such students and inform school authorities,” said a government official.

He added that the state government hopes to get better results by involving students.

The students are expected to generate a detailed profile of these students. “Details like their age, parents’ profile, occupation, contact details, school attended in the past, numbers of years they were out of school, etc will be sought from the students,” added the official.

A focus group of teachers will be formed, who will take a weekly stock of designated areas. The teachers are then expected to get more details on such students and also to convince their parents to send them back to school.