Bhubaneswar: Concerned over the low attendance in offline classes after schools reopened in Odisha and keen to bring back into classrooms the absentee students who have either dropped out, moved elsewhere with their parents or lost interest in studies during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government has devised a strategy.
School & Mass Education Department Secretary Bishnupada Sethi has written to all Collectors and District Magistrates, outlining the strategy to bring these students back to school.
The state government was concerned after an analysis of daily attendance figures provided by District Education Officers showed only 70 per cent students were attending classes after schools reopened.
The attendance in Class 1 to 5 in districts like Malkangiri, Boudh, Gajapati, Sambalpur and Nuapada was found to be less than the state average.
Similarly, in Class 6 to 8, the attendance in districts like Malkangiri, Boudh, Sambalpur and Nuapada was also found to be less than the state average. Same is the case in the secondary wing in districts like Gajapati, Bolangir, Bargarh, Sonepur, Nuapada, Cuttack, Khurda, Koraput, Ganjam, Boudh, Malkangiri, Keonjhar and Sambalpur.
The overall attendance in higher secondary classes is abysmally low in Gajapati, Sonepur, Baragarh, Kandhamal and Nuapada districts.
A review meeting by the department also observed that many students passing out of Class 8 were not taking readmission in Class 9 and possibly dropping out.
Collectors and District Magistrates have been asked to adopt the following strategy as well as come up with ideas to bring these students back to school.
* Conduct micro-level survey at school level to list students not coming to school.
* Junior teachers may be sent to the houses of absentee students to know the reason for their absence.
* These junior teachers should also motivate the students and their parents to go back to school and explain the benefits of sending them to school and steps taken by the government to provide free books, free uniform, MDM and scholarship to students, bicycles, etc.
* If required, the help of members of SMC/ SMDC/ PRIs / WSHGs may be taken and community level activities to be initiated in this regard.
* The benefit of Learning Recovery Plan (LRP) must be explained at every level.
