On one hand where government is laying emphasis to make education necessary for children everywhere, there’s a state Chhattisgarh where the dropout rates in schools is increasing day by day. The main reason for dropouts is the absence of education friendly environment and basic facilities to attract children to educational institutes in the tribal dominated state.
According to the national survey conducted by Social and Rural Research Institute the estimated out of school children in the age group of 6-13 years in 2014 was 1,67,072 children out of 44,59,796 were out of schools in Chhattisgarh.
The total percentage of children out of schools in the state is 3.75 per cent which is higher than the average of 2.97 per cent. The survey has also found that 94,317 children have never been enrolled in any school. According to the survey, the maximum dropouts from the school in the age group of 6-13 were after class II. Lack of interest in education, household work, lack of access, failure and non-flexibility in school timings are some of the major reasons brought up by the survey.
As per the survey, in the rural areas 1,16,011 children belonging to Schedule Tribe category (ST), 2,410 of schedule cast, and 40,370 of other backward classes were out of school. In urban areas, 3,415 students were reported to be out of school in the state but no child from OBS and SC were found to be out of school.
The other reasons for dropouts of children in schools are the lack of trained teachers who can make education interested for these children. A proper training of teachers is necessary so that they can make learning more interactive and use of technology could be other measures to attract students to schools and ultimately reduce dropout rates.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in Chhattisgarh has identified almost 40,000 children out of school this year. A sharp decline was witnessed in dropout students in plain areas of the state but the challenge are in the tribal dominated areas which are naxal prone.
It is worth mentioning here that the government is taking every step to reduce the dropout rates while running various schemes like mid-day meal, free school uniform, books, making teacher skilled, introducing skill training in education and much more.
