The school education department along with police department has traced nearly 1,000 dropouts in the district. These dropouts were re-admitted into schools in the 2023-24 academic year. According to the 'out of school' list in Tamil Nadu on the Educational Management Information System (EMIS) portal, a number of 6,400 + students had dropped out of schools in the district. This was said by a school education department official.
Following that, the district schools education department has also announced that it will conduct a special series of events for school dropouts. This is for the students who failed under the Kalluri Kanavu Scheme. This event will be conducted on June 26.
The Officials Say:
"The status of other students is being ascertained. More boys had discontinued schools compared to girls and the drop out numbers are more in urban areas than rural areas. Many of the students who were re-admitted to schools had ended up doing unskilled work," the official said.
In line with the department official, "Intervention and counselling sessions will be organised for such students and they will be motivated to study further for better opportunities in future. Students who have completed Class X would be asked to join Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and upgrade their skill sets."
“Tracking dropped out students has become a difficult task. The police department do such work now. Many times whole family shifts to other city or even other states in search of work. We only come to know about such incidents when some students seek re-admission after returning to the city."
T Arulanandham, vice-president of the Tamil Nadu higher secondary schools graduate teachers’ association, said, “Some kids left schools due to financial circumstances of their families and were forced to do menial jobs. In some other cases, students stopped their education due to family disputes, separation of parents and alcoholism.”
