High dropouts dog Kasturba girls' schools

There are more than 2,000 vacant seats in the existing Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) in the state, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), has observed.

According to a recent report of the MHRD's Project Approval Board, across the 144 Kasturba schools in Karnataka, there are 2,430 vacant seats. The KGBV schools are also seeing huge dropouts for classes 11 and 12.

These exclusive residential schools for girls were established with an intention to provide quality education to those belonging to disadvantaged groups. The KGBVs have classes 6 to 12. Girls who have dropped out of school before are admitted to KGBVs after putting them through bridge courses.

Speaking to DH, H E C Raghavendra, member of Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Ballari, who has worked extensively in rehabilitating children from distressed families, said there were infrastructure issues hindering enrollment.

Hostels away from school

For instance, majority of the schools in his district had classes only from 6-8 standard. For higher classes, the school and the hostel were in different places, leading to several girls dropping out, he pointed out.

Misuse of rules

"Parents hesitate to send their children if the school is far away. In some places, the facility is misused to allow those from influential backgrounds to seek admission. Hence, genuine stakeholders are losing out on opportunity," he said.

To check the dropout rate, the state government should ensure the implementation of the protocol under RTE rules, which stipulate that any child that drops out needs to be brought back to school within seven days of unexcused absence from school, activist Kathyayini Chamaraj, observed.

Even though rules stipulate that the machinery to bring back the child should start working within the first few days of absence, they are not implemented effectively, she lamented.

However, K Raghavendra Bhat, who works as part of UNICEF child protection project, Koppal, said there was an overall improvement over the last two years.

"There are some schools with problems, others are faring well. There has been a general improvement over the last two years, with the documentation process made flexible for admission. Several dropouts and rescued children have been enrolled," he said.

State Project Director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, M Deepa, promised to look into the issue.