Skip to main content

62% of dropped out Odisha children tribals, 53% said none counselled them to rejoin

By Naba Kishor Pujari* 
The Odisha government launched a Learning Recovery Programme to help students catch up on the education they have missed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The programme is designed to help students from standard 3rd to 9th to bridge the learning losses created due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.
The Learning Recovery Programme is part of the Odisha government’s response to the pandemic and will be supported by Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA). The Learning Recovery Programme exemplifies the Odisha government’s commitment to providing quality education for all students. The programme was designed to ensure that all students can continue their studies and achieve their educational goals regardless of their background.
Together with its allies Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha and Mahila Shramajeebee Mancha, Odisha, two state-level collectives, the Atmashakti Trust designed a campaign i.e. Education Cannot Wait, Act Now! started on the 15th of November, i.e., Birsha Munda Jayanti not only in Odisha but in 5 other states such as Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand where numerous activities were undertaken to raise awareness among the public, pluralize support and seek actions from the government on effective implementation of LRP as well as RTE.
The campaign came to an end on the 10th of December, International Human Rights day. From the beginning of the campaign, various activities such as fact-finding, consultation, recommendation collection, testimonials, village level resolution, pledge, press conference, sharing of findings with various stakeholders at the district level, dialogue with line departments, etc. Were conducted to sensitize the stakeholders on such an urgent issue of education.
Significant highlights of fact-finding conducted over 4 major areas such as LRP, RTE, drop out and migration are given below:
The Odisha government directed the LRP to be conducted in 54,446 government/ government aided schools, among 37,97,830 students of Class III-IX, by engaging 2,29,799 teachers in the 30 districts of Odisha. The campaign covered 13 districts of Odisha with 73 blocks and 1 ULB, along with 485 Gram Panchayats and 1404 villages.
As per the fact-finding report, 14.45 % of students do not know about LRP though it was started in September. 8.93 % of students interviewed said that no assessment was done in their school. 11.26% of students have not attended the baseline assessment for LRP in their school. 8.84% of students said that no learning recovery classes have started in their school. 6.69% of students have not received any LRP education materials.
It was found that 22.89% of students rate the LRP teaching methodology as average. 21.78% of students reported the absence of an activity calendar based on the Learning Outcomes (LO) in their school. 44.71% of students feel completely lost in education.
Then, 49.58% (2748) of students interviewed are finding difficulty in coping with their studies. 37% of students find the LRP learning unfriendly and difficult to read the LRP books provided by the school.
Similarly, as per the fact-finding on RTE status, 23.80% of schools are short of 1 teacher compared to the number of sanctioned posts in their school. Similarly, 28.19%, 16.32%, & 6.64% of schools are short of 2, 3, and 4 teachers, respectively. 17% of schools are short of 1 classroom compared to the number of classes in the school. Similarly, 26.26%, 24.95%, 11.09%, and 5.54% of schools are short of 2, 3, 4, and 5 classrooms respectively.11.66% of schools don’t have drinking water facilities. 15.01% of schools are accessing non-drinkable water sources.
Further 11.24% of schools do not have separate kitchen sheds. 14.70% of schools don’t have toilet facilities. 20.61% of schools do not have separate toilets for boys and girls. 44.04% of toilets in schools lack water facilities.
The students do not use 30.07% of toilets in schools. 75.63% of schools don’t have playgrounds. 41.32% of schools don’t have a boundary wall. Parents mentioned that it is unsafe because of the absence of a boundary wall. 28.35% of schools do not have electrical connections. 88.13% of schools need repairing.
At the same time, 13.44% of School Management Committee (SMC) members never participate in monitoring the school work. 42.42% of schools do not have any special provisions for the disabled. 51.83% of schools do not have a complaint mechanism for lodging complaints for the disabled.
The fact-finding on drop out, which covered 1,921 schools, found that 244 students (Class-III-VIII) had dropped out of school. Out of the total dropout cases, 61.7% of students belonged to ST, 10%, 24.2, & 10% are from SC, OBC, and general categories, respectively. 52.5% of students said no teachers came and counseled them to rejoin school. 44.8% of the parents did not even try to send their children back to school. 50.2% of the respondents revealed that there were no from the SMC.
As per the fact-finding on migration, 152 students were found to have migrated multiple times, because of which they were out of school. 84.2% of the total respondents migrated temporarily, while 15.8% migrated permanently because of insufficient livelihood opportunities in the locality. 24% said they migrated because they had no other livelihood options.
Also, 16.4% of students said they are helping their parents with the household work, 15.8%, 11.8%, & 27.6% said they were working outside, supporting their parents at the work site, and other reasons, respectively. 55.5% of the parents take their children with them while migrating because no one is left in their homes to care for their children. Similarly, 17.6% and 26.6% said they need their children's support at the worksite for more income and other reasons, respectively.
---
*Senior manager-communications, Atmashakti Trust

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Grueling summer ahead: Cuttack’s alarming health trends and what they mean for Odisha

By Sudhansu R Das  The preparation to face the summer should begin early in Odisha. People in the state endure long, grueling summer months starting from mid-February and extending until the end of October. This prolonged heat adversely affects productivity, causes deaths and diseases, and impacts agriculture, tourism and the unorganized sector. The social, economic and cultural life of the state remains severely disrupted during the peak heat months.
Post a Comment
»

Stronger India–Russia partnership highlights a missed energy breakthrough

By N.S. Venkataraman*  The recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India was widely publicized across several countries and has attracted significant global attention. The warmth with which Mr. Putin was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was particularly noted, prompting policy planners worldwide to examine the implications of this cordial relationship for the global economy and political climate. India–Russia relations have stood on a strong foundation for decades and have consistently withstood geopolitical shifts. This is in marked contrast to India’s ties with the United States, which have experienced fluctuations under different U.S. administrations.
Post a Comment
»

From natural farming to fair prices: Young entrepreneurs show a new path

By Bharat Dogra   There have been frequent debates on agro-business companies not showing adequate concern for the livelihoods of small farmers. Farmers’ unions have often protested—generally with good reason—that while they do not receive fair returns despite high risks and hard work, corporate interests that merely process the crops produced by farmers earn disproportionately high profits. Hence, there is a growing demand for alternative models of agro-business development that demonstrate genuine commitment to protecting farmer livelihoods.
Post a Comment
»

The Vande Mataram debate and the politics of manufactured controversy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  The recent Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was never meant to foster genuine dialogue. Each political party spoke past the other, addressing its own constituency, ensuring that clips went viral rather than contributing to meaningful deliberation. The objective was clear: to construct a Hindutva narrative ahead of the Bengal elections. Predictably, the Lok Sabha will likely expunge the opposition’s “controversial” remarks while retaining blatant inaccuracies voiced by ministers and ruling-party members. The BJP has mastered the art of inserting distortions into parliamentary records to provide them with a veneer of historical legitimacy.
Post a Comment
»

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.
Post a Comment
»

The cost of being Indian: How inequality and market logic redefine rights

By Vikas Gupta   We, the people of India, are engaged in a daily tryst—read: struggle—for basic human rights. For the seemingly well-to-do, the wish list includes constant water supply, clean air, safe roads, punctual public transportation, and crime-free neighbourhoods. For those further down the ladder, the struggle is starker: food that fills the stomach, water that doesn’t sicken, medicines that don’t kill, houses that don’t flood, habitats at safe distances from polluted streams or garbage piles, and exploitation-free environments in the public institutions they are compelled to navigate.
Post a Comment
»

Why India must urgently strengthen its policies for an ageing population

By Bharat Dogra   A quiet but far-reaching demographic transformation is reshaping much of the world. As life expectancy rises and birth rates fall, societies are witnessing a rapid increase in the proportion of older people. This shift has profound implications for public policy, and the need to strengthen frameworks for healthy and secure ageing has never been more urgent. India is among the countries where these pressures will intensify most sharply in the coming decades.
Post a Comment
»

Thota Sitaramaiah: An internal pillar of an underground organisation

By Harsh Thakor*  Thota Sitaramaiah was regarded within his circles as an example of the many individuals whose work in various underground movements remained largely unknown to the wider public. While some leaders become visible through organisational roles or media attention, many others contribute quietly, without public recognition. Sitaramaiah was considered one such figure. He passed away on December 8, 2025, at the age of 65.
Post a Comment
»

Proposals for Babri Masjid, Ram Temple spark fears of polarisation before West Bengal polls

By A Representative   A political debate has emerged in West Bengal following recent announcements about plans for new religious structures in Murshidabad district, including a proposed mosque to be named Babri Masjid and a separate announcement by a BJP leader regarding the construction of a Ram temple in another location within Behrampur.
Post a Comment
»