Dropouts in Chandigarh schools increased: Child mapping survey

The number of students dropping out of schools in the UT have increased over the past year, the latest child-mapping survey conducted by the UT education department revealed.

The number of students dropping out of schools in the UT have increased over the past year, the latest child-mapping survey conducted by the UT education department revealed.

According to the survey, a total of 2,932 children dropped out of schools this year as compared to 2,800 last year.

As per the report, most of the dropouts were recorded between the age group 14-18 years with a total of 1,870 students of the said age group dropping out of school in the last year.

574 dropouts were recorded between ages 11 and 14 years and 488 between five and 11 years.

Arvind Rana, president of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Teachers Welfare Association (SSATWA), UT said poor results in class 9 were the reason for most number of students dropping out.

“As there is no detention policy till class 8, the only reason behind drop outs in lower age groups is migration.

However, students who fail in class 9 opt for direct admission in class 10 either through the Punjab board or the national open school”, Rana said adding that a large number of these students start working full time after failing in class 9.

According to officials, most number of dropouts were from the regions that were at the periphery of the city like Dhanas and Sarangpur.

“The major dropouts were witnessed among the residents of the rehabilitated colony in Dhanas as the parents did not wish to send their daughters to far away schools”said Director of Public Instructions (DPI) (schools), Kamlesh Kumar.

Kumar said the authorities were taking steps to ensure that most number of students from rehabilitated colonies like Dhanas also get an opportunity to go to schools.

“We have completed the construction of a new school in Dhanas and another building in the same area would soon be constructed”, he said.

Meanwhile, the education department breathed a sigh of relief as the survey revealed that the number of students who never took admission in a school decreased.

While 3,025 students did not go to school according to last year’s survey, the number went down to 2418 this year.