The number of school drop out children in Dakshina Kannada district which was as high as 7,800 in 2001-02 has come down drastically to 132 in the year 2012-13.
This has been possible due to the continous efforts under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyana (SSA) to bring awareness about the importance of schooling and introducation of various facilities for government school going children, said Sarva Shiksha Abhiyana Deputy Project Co-ordinator Shivaprakash.
He was delivering key-note address at ‘Spandana,’ a documentary release programme organised by the Pathways Cell and the MCMS Department of St Aloysius College at the college teletorium on Saturday. Giving out information about the standard of basic infrastructure facilities at the government primary schools, he said as per the Right to Education Act, all the schools should fulfill nine basic criteria prior to March 31.
As far as DK district is concerned, all the government primary schools have fulfilled eight norms and are moving towards reaching the set target.
Some of the basic norms include one classroom each for 40 children, separate room for head teacher, minimum toilets, drinking water facility, electriity, ramps for physically challenged children etc, Shivaprakash said.
With over 120 schools lacking playgrounds and several other schools lacking compound walls in the district, the Education Department has submitted a proposal to the government asking for additional funds to develop playgrounds and compound walls in the schools.
A proposal for Rs 10 crore has been sent requesting for fund to build compound walls, SSA district chief said. Briefing about Nali-Kali system of education, Shivaprakash said that Nali-Kali has brought visible change in the activitities of primary school children.
“It is the need of the hour to evolve self-learning techniques in the schools to bring
about improvement in the classroom.
The learning process should be student-centric rather than teacher-centric, where the children are given an opportunity to speak out and question. With the introduction of Nali-Kali system, the children of second and third standard are found to be more active and vocal than the children studying in higher classes,” Sarva Shiksha Abhiyana district chief noted. SSA has identified 5,186 special children in the district and attempts are made to join these children to special schools, he said.
Releasing the documentary, typeface expert K P Rao stressed on the need to inculcate inquisitive and questioning attitude in the children.
The 14 minutes documentary titled ‘Paatashala’ produced by HEIRA, CSCS Bangalore and Ford Foundation, is an attempt by the students of Pathways Cell to analyse the condition of government schools in Mangalore.
The documentary covers six government primary schools and concludes with a message that with innovation and improved infrastructure, even the government schools are no less than private schools.
