A special committee which was set up by the Social Welfare Department to study the extent of the dropout rate has come out with startling figures. According to the report over 4000 school students have discontinued their studies and dropped out of schools owing to various factors such as family poverty, Covid lockdown and others.
Coimbatore: At a time, when the state education department has taken initiatives such as "Illam Thedi Kalvi” to address the learning gaps in school-going children, the alarming school dropout rate in Coimbatore district has come as a bombshell.
A special committee which was set up by the Social Welfare Department to study the extent of the dropout rate in the district has come out with startling figures. According to reports, over 4000 school students have discontinued their studies and dropped out of schools owing to various factors such as family poverty, unwillingness to attend school, Covid lockdown and other extraneous factors.
While the overall alarming dropout rate of school children in Coimbatore district has raised the hackles of many, reports point that the dropout rate has been particularly high in Anaimalai and SS Samakulam areas, of the district.
The study also found out that young children were caught in the cycle of poverty are forced to support their families by opting for employment instead of attending school.
Single-parent families and Covid lockdown have also compounded the factor in which the children are forced to discontinue their studies and opt for low-paying employment.
The most disconcerting factor affecting dropout children is that they easily get caught in the web of crime activities due to undesirable companionship, they develop while at home.
According to Social Welfare department officials “The dropouts often fall prey to getting involved in unsocial and criminal activities due to their association with bad elements. They often take to drugs and alcohol or take to committing petty crimes such as burglary."
The next major trend which is found among dropout children is that they are given away in child marriage at an early age if she happens to be female child.
Either they are given away in child marriage before they attain legal marriageable age of 18, or send to work in supermarkets, and shops for meagre earnings by their families, the study found out.
“The lack of counselling facilities after Covid lockdown to lure them back to school instead of going to work is one of the reasons for the high dropout rate in the district” say, social activists.
Social activists suggest urgent measures such as setting up learning centres in each locality and encouraging students to participate in extracurricular and sports activities can act as stimulants for children to continue schooling, or go back to school again.
By way of urgent remedy and to cut out the high dropout rate , the social welfare department officials in tie-up with Gram Sevak and extension officials at the block and panchayat levels have decided to reach out to the families of dropout children and convince them to send their wards back to school.
In view of the issue, Coimbatore District Collector, G.S.Sameeran convened a meeting with the officials of social welfare dept on December 5 and instructed them to meet the dropout school students at their homes and offer counselling to enable them to return to school without any hitch or fear.
In this scenario, the Social welfare department officials have been striving hard to realise the dictum of great leaders like B.R. Ambedkar who said “ Extending education to a poor child is better than any offering to the Gods”.
“It is encouraging to note that many of the children we met over the weeks have expressed their desire to return to school and pursue their studies, which is heartening to note,” said one of the officials in the team.
A case in point is a 14- year old girl in Malumichampatti panchayat, here who has discontinued her studies, as she could not afford to buy text and notebooks.
When the team led by Rural welfare officer Bhagyalakshmi met her, she told the team that since her father is blind and mother is a wage earner, she could not afford to buy uniforms and books so had to discontinue her education.
However, after counselling by the officials the school dropout is now readmitted to a Higher secondary school in Malumichampatti to her great joy.
While India witnessed a steep increase in child labor during the Covid period, a recent study shows that In the year 2021-22, the second highest number of child labourers were rescued in the state of Tamilnadu..Though rescue numbers of child labourers have exponentially increased, general awareness to educate children is lacking among the general public.
"Only when the society realise that it is illegal to employ a child for meagre wages, those children would be able to return to school to pursue their discontinued education. This would also bring down the dropout rate of school children in every village and district", opined an official from the social welfare dept.
A special committee which was set up by the Social Welfare Department to study the extent of the dropout rate in the district has come out with startling figures. According to reports, over 4000 school students have discontinued their studies and dropped out of schools owing to various factors such as family poverty, unwillingness to attend school, Covid lockdown and other extraneous factors.
While the overall alarming dropout rate of school children in Coimbatore district has raised the hackles of many, reports point that the dropout rate has been particularly high in Anaimalai and SS Samakulam areas, of the district.
The study also found out that young children were caught in the cycle of poverty are forced to support their families by opting for employment instead of attending school.
Single-parent families and Covid lockdown have also compounded the factor in which the children are forced to discontinue their studies and opt for low-paying employment.
The most disconcerting factor affecting dropout children is that they easily get caught in the web of crime activities due to undesirable companionship, they develop while at home.
According to Social Welfare department officials “The dropouts often fall prey to getting involved in unsocial and criminal activities due to their association with bad elements. They often take to drugs and alcohol or take to committing petty crimes such as burglary."
The next major trend which is found among dropout children is that they are given away in child marriage at an early age if she happens to be female child.
Either they are given away in child marriage before they attain legal marriageable age of 18, or send to work in supermarkets, and shops for meagre earnings by their families, the study found out.
“The lack of counselling facilities after Covid lockdown to lure them back to school instead of going to work is one of the reasons for the high dropout rate in the district” say, social activists.
Social activists suggest urgent measures such as setting up learning centres in each locality and encouraging students to participate in extracurricular and sports activities can act as stimulants for children to continue schooling, or go back to school again.
By way of urgent remedy and to cut out the high dropout rate , the social welfare department officials in tie-up with Gram Sevak and extension officials at the block and panchayat levels have decided to reach out to the families of dropout children and convince them to send their wards back to school.
In view of the issue, Coimbatore District Collector, G.S.Sameeran convened a meeting with the officials of social welfare dept on December 5 and instructed them to meet the dropout school students at their homes and offer counselling to enable them to return to school without any hitch or fear.
In this scenario, the Social welfare department officials have been striving hard to realise the dictum of great leaders like B.R. Ambedkar who said “ Extending education to a poor child is better than any offering to the Gods”.
“It is encouraging to note that many of the children we met over the weeks have expressed their desire to return to school and pursue their studies, which is heartening to note,” said one of the officials in the team.
A case in point is a 14- year old girl in Malumichampatti panchayat, here who has discontinued her studies, as she could not afford to buy text and notebooks.
When the team led by Rural welfare officer Bhagyalakshmi met her, she told the team that since her father is blind and mother is a wage earner, she could not afford to buy uniforms and books so had to discontinue her education.
However, after counselling by the officials the school dropout is now readmitted to a Higher secondary school in Malumichampatti to her great joy.
While India witnessed a steep increase in child labor during the Covid period, a recent study shows that In the year 2021-22, the second highest number of child labourers were rescued in the state of Tamilnadu..Though rescue numbers of child labourers have exponentially increased, general awareness to educate children is lacking among the general public.
"Only when the society realise that it is illegal to employ a child for meagre wages, those children would be able to return to school to pursue their discontinued education. This would also bring down the dropout rate of school children in every village and district", opined an official from the social welfare dept.