Attendance drops by 60% in primary schools as kids do not have sweater, shoes

Agra: At a time when state government is trying to increase enrollment and attendance of students in its primary and upper primary schools, many parents in the district have stopped sending their wards to class as they do not have sweaters and shoes to keep warm. Over the past seven days, attendance in most of the basic shiksha schools has dropped by 60%.Teachers are worried as half-yearly exams are supposed to begin from next month.
According to sources, till the Yogi government took over, primary and upper primary government school students were already entitled to free schoolbags, uniforms and books. In addition, the new government for the first time decided to provide a pair of shoes, two pairs of socks and a sweater to the schoolchildren from classes I to VIII.
There are over 2,900 basic education schools in the region with more than 2.5 lakh students enrolled in them. None of these schools has received the sweaters till now whereas over 40% schools are still waiting for shoes and socks, said the sources. The sweaters, shoes and socks were supposed to have been distributed by October.
The result is that parents of students like 14-year-old Jatin, who studies at Wazirpura upper primary school, have stopped him from attending class fearing he may fall ill due to the cold as he does not have a warm sweater and proper shoes. Similarly, other parents too have stopped their kids from going to school.
Now students’ absenteeism has snowballed into a major issue with half-yearly exams due to begin from next week.
Talking with TOI, Rajeev Verma, city president of Uttar Pradesh Primary Teachers Association, said, “Parents are not sending their kids to schools as they are demanding the department either declares winter vacation or provides proper school uniforms as promised. We have informed the BSA about this problem. Now, we will give her a written complaint also.”
Principal Idgah girls upper primary school Nidhi Shrivastava said, “We have to face this problem every day as none of the students has received a sweater and very few of them have got their shoes. Every day, parents come to the school with the same problem. The school attendance has dipped by 60%over the past seven days. We have to conduct the examination but it does not seem possible under these conditions.”
“I don’t think attendance is falling because of the lack of sweaters and shoes as this is the first time that students are going to get them from the department. We will check to find out if the parents are indeed not allowing their children to go to school because of the lack of sweaters and shoes,” said Girijesh Chowdhary, assistant director, basic education.
At the same time he said, “We will make sure distribution of shoes in all schools as soon as possible.” However, he refused to comment on the distribution of sweaters.
On Tuesday, while presenting its first supplementary budget of the current fiscal 2017-18, the Yogi Adityanath government allocated Rs 390 crore of the total sanctioned Rs 415.84 crore to the primary education department for providing free sweaters to schoolchildren of class one to eight in government-run primary and upper primary schools.