Dropout in TN government schools to be identified and reinstated

CHENNAI: As the schools were reopened for the students across the State, the Tamil Nadu government has initiated a huge exercise this year to find the dropouts and reinstate them. The School Education Department has already developed an algorithm to identify students as potential dropouts based on the attendance pattern.

"Based on this, a house to house survey with a geo-tagged mobile application is conducted", a senior official from the School Education Department, seeking anonymity, told DT Next on Saturday.

Stating that the state government has allocated Rs 8.92 crore for 2023-2024, he said community participation led by district collectors to form and monitor school-level, block-level and district-level committees involving government officials, educators, general public and volunteers of the government's special program Illam Thedi Kalvi.

"This year special focus will be given to reinstate Out of School Children (OoSC) ", he said adding "all the chief educational officers in all the districts were instructed to form a team in each government schools, who will be preparing the list of the students, who were absent for more than three to one week".

Stating that if required the team, comprising teachers and administration staff of the school, will also conduct a door-to-door survey, the official said "in addition, the team will also take a list of students, who have not continued the schooling this year".

The official said Immediately after identification, these dropout children were enrolled in age appropriate classes in nearby formal schools and provided welfare items such as textbooks, uniform, school bag, footwear and notebooks. "These children will be tracked till they complete higher secondary education", he added.

He said that special focus will also be given on girls, children with special needs (CWSN), transgender children and children of migrant workers continuing their education till higher secondary level. "These children will also be tracked whether they also get admissions in the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) ", he said.

Pointing out that during COVID-19 lockdown an unprecedented 1,88,487 children have been identified and enrolled in age-appropriate and specific classes from standard 1 to 12, he said "still that impact continue to exist since the children especially in government and government aided could not get proper education during lockdown as compared with their counterpart in private school, who studied online".

The official said apart from identifying dropouts, the schools were also instructed to identify the students from Class X to Class XII, who were absent for the board exams this year. "The officials will also ensure that those students would appear for the exams this year', he said.