PUNE: A smart student from a zilla parishad school in Wadgaon village in Khalapur, some 100km from Pune, who began to skip classes found a perfect match in his principal.
Last Tuesday, the Std IV student played truant yet again giving in to his love for the screen— he was enamoured by cellphone games that he played for hours on the new smartphone.
The child had skipped school sporadically since mid-September. Sometimes, he would come to school, set his bag on his seat and disappear for the day.
Repeated warnings and messages to his parents did not make him mend his ways and he skipped school for four consecutive days in the second week of October. On October 17, there was no sign of the boy for the fifth day.
School principal Subhash Rathod realised he needed to do something especially since the festival season would increase absenteeism.
The three teachers in the school had an intense discussion on how to deal with it. As is were word reached some students playing on the ground.
One of them ran up to the teachers and said that the truant child was at home and on the cellphone. Another said, “He went for a swim in the river yesterday but bunked school.” A third student let the cat out of the bag. “Today, he hid behind his uncle’s house when I went to call him to school,” he said.
Rathod and the other two teachers hit upon an idea. “We will go to his house and bring him to school today. If he doesn’t come, we will conduct classes in front of his house.” The kids cheered and bringing back their fellow student became a mission.
The principal said the truant boy was a smart child and good at studies but the cellphone had caught his fancy. “It was a spontaneous decision to march to his house, a ‘school morcha’, to bring him back,’’ Rathod added.
Thirty-five students and three teachers took the small walk to the boy’s house in the village. They even carried extra notebooks and pens in case he gave the excuse of not having any.
“It was a 10- to 15-minute walk through the village. Everyone was taken aback when they saw us trooping to the boy’s house. Some thought we were on a field trip,” Rathod said.
Looking at his fellow students and teachers outside his house, and boy ran away to his uncle’s house. But the search party knew his hideout and began calling out to him.
“We found him hiding behind his uncle’s shop. He was about to cry when we brought him, but the principal and the two teachers spoke to him kindly and convinced him to come to school with us,’’ a Std VII student, said.
Realising that he could not slip out of the situation, the boy got into his uniform, picked up his satchel, joined his fellow students and walked back to school.
Teachers, students, and bystanders cheered and celebrated his return. After all, he was one of their own and once he heeded them, they were all on the same side.
His mother said, “He is our only child and serious about studies but he got hooked on to the new smartphone. He has started going to school regularly after all the children and teachers came to our house. We are relieved.”
After this episode, a few other irregular students have begun attending school daily, worried that the school morcha may come to their doorstep someday. Rathod is pleased that the initiative has the full support of the parents and the villagers.
He said, “In a situation where there is poor enrolment in ZP schools, it is vital to maintain 100% attendance. If a student skips school without a valid reason, then our school will go to his house to bring him back.”