Now education to come to students

KANPUR: Now for those children who cannot reach school, make-shift schools will be made available to them in their area. Aiming to connect children, who have so far remained out of school, with elementary education and subsequently to bring them to the mainstream, the education department is embarking on an ambitious plan of introducing 'drop-in' schools under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA).The target children are mostly rag pickers, child beggars and children of migrant labourers found at railway stations.
For this, the education department authorities claim that a proposal has been sent to the administration for the final nod. In order to attract children, who are engaged at railway stations and or picking rag, to the 'drop-in' schools, there are plans for make-shift tents near railway stations.
"We come across many children who have never been to school. Making money by working at railway stations have been cited has the prime reason for these children to be out of school. Though children used to enrol for elementary education, their retention was difficult, said Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Rakesh Pandey.
Pointing out the varied administrative arrangements of permanent structures for schools which made admissions a difficult process and thus, after admission, accounted for more drop-outs, the BSA said: "It is for this reason that instead of coming to schools, we would be providing them the facility of school (through water-proof make-shift tents)."
He was of the opinion that once these drop-out children get elementary education, efforts would be made to connect them with the mainstream education. "However, getting education to these children is initially a Herculean task," Pandey confessed.
The education department informed there would be flexibility in running the schools and keeping the interest of such children. "Some children also do not come to school for want of time. The timings of the drop-in schools would be arranged so that maximum children could attend them," Pandey pointed out.
Besides claiming 'drop-in' schools to be one-time investment, the education department has plans for incentives to lure children to school, like mid-day meals. "Supply of textbooks and school uniforms is an attractive offer for children along with the mid-day meals which would be arranges through the mid-day meal schemes," the authorities informed, adding there would be more of effort and less of investment involved.
Having assumed a total number of 4,000 children to be out of school in the district, and that a good strength of the rag-pickers and child labourers have been identified near the railway stations, the education department would also be making efforts in counselling the parents of these children and involving them in this initiative so as to educate maximum number of children.