The Sultan Bathery municipality in the Wayanad district of Kerala has launched an initiative to make the region school dropout free.
The region has a large tribal and farmer population and was seeing high number of dropout cases, which is why the municipality launched the drive.
Earlier, the total number of school dropouts from class one to higher secondary was around 200, which is now brought down to 39.
Many students from the region were also found to be engaged as plantation workers. The employers, in some cases the students' parents, have now been warned of action over the charge of child labour should such activities continue.
Education standing committee chairman of the municipality Tom Jose told DH that as the tenth and higher secondary public examinations are approaching, the present focus was on them.
Eleven students were found to be regularly skipping classes. A team of officials of various departments concerned were formed and a door-to-door campaign at the houses of the school dropouts was being conducted.
The campaign would resume once the schools open after Christmas vacation.
Jose said that as a result of thrust being given by the municipality for education, the schools in the region recorded a 100% passing rate in the last tenth standard examinations, while the average passing percentage of the district was much low.
This was attained not through any special coaching, but also by ensuring that all students attended classes regularly. The school authorities are advised to alert the municipality in case any student regularly skipped classes. A special team from the municipality would visit the houses of such students and address the issue. Counselling would be also arranged to purse students to attend classes regularly.
There are around 17 schools in the municipality. Compared to other parts of Wayanad, the school dropout rate in the Sultan Bathery region is relatively low.
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