Children are still out of school due to reasons like distance and lack of facilities to get admitted to new schools
A view of the resettlement area at Perumbakkam. - DC
Chennai: Looking at the neighbouring schoolchildren in uniforms, 12-year-old S. Gunal yearns to be one among them. “I wish to study in a school. Do you know a school that will take me?” he asks. Gunal is the son of G. Shankar who drives a tricycle to transport goods in Thoraipakkam and an evictee. Last year, many people were evicted from Chennai to houses on the outskirts as part of a slum clearance programme of the corporation. Children from these families are still out of school due to various reasons like distance and lack of facilities to get admitted to new schools.
More than 15,000 children are among the evicted families who moved from the city last year, according to a research by the housing and land rights network, Habitat International Coalition - South East Asia, done in 2013.Thirteen per cent of children in the age group of 6-14 years are out of school and 35 per cent in the 15-18 year age group are school dropouts.
The study also added that prior to relocation, only 1 per cent of the children used buses to commute to school while 42 per cent use buses after that. “Our children need to travel as far as Parry’s to go to school. We find it difficult and unsafe to let girl children go so far,” said K. Amlu, mother of 13-year-old K. Kalai Arasi. For instance, a corporation school in Egmore lost more than 50 per cent of its student strength after the eviction. “Last year, there were 420 students in our school. After eviction, only 55 students were left behind due to the distance factor,” said L. Jesindha, headmistress of the corporation middle school, Egmore.
“While people from Chennai were evicted to Thoraipakkam, the Chennai corporation allotted houses for them there. But once they go there, they come under the jurisdiction of Kancheepuram district. This way no facilities are given to the dwellers,” said Vanessa Peter, a policy analyst.
Education funds are allocated to districts individually and this causes a problem when there is a change of locality of people according to Sarah Ramya, programme manager, Aide et Action, an NGO that works for children’s education. “When schools are closed down in areas where children drop out, an equal number of schools must be constructed in the places they move to,” she suggested.
There are 1,000 students studying in government schools in Thoraipakkam. “Some children are admitted this year, too, in our school. There are 22 children in SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) classrooms. We have English medium also for children in class 1 and class 2, which encourages more children to enrol,” said K. Jayabarathi, headmistress, panchayat union primary school, Kannagi Nagar, Chennai.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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