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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Karnataka's dropout rate dips as midday meals lure kids -Shilpa Baburaj

Karnataka's dropout rate dips as midday meals lure kids -Shilpa Baburaj

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published Published on Apr 5, 2016   modified Modified on Apr 5, 2016
-The Times of India

Bengaluru: Midday meals and nutritious milk seem to have done the trick. Not many students are leaving government schools in Karnataka these days due to effective retention strategies, say experts.

The number of out-of-school children has come down to 90,000 in 2016 from 7,00,000 in 2001, according to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) officials. The number of dropouts in 2015-16 was 12,878.

Paradoxically, enrolment in government schools, which are in the forefront of the drive to arrest dropouts, too is dropping. Education officials attribute this to migration of students to private schools, mainly due to quota provided under the Right to Education, among other things.

"Students have stuck to government schools because of schemes like midday meal, Ksheera Bhagya, free textbooks, as also academic performance and efforts of the faculty," said Bella Shetty, joint director, Directorate of Public Instruction.

Akshaya Patra, which provides midday meals to schools, said there has been an increase of over 6,000 children in 2015-16 as compared to 2013-14. The NGO is now providing meals to 678 schools as compared to 568 in 2013-14.

"The number of students has gradually increased as quality of education has improved. Thanks to the midday meal programme, students can focus more on studies," said Bhadraiah, principal, GHPS, Hunsamaranahalli.

"I don't have to worry about my child's food as the school provides it," said Yadamma, mother of a class VI student and a daily-wage worker.

Declining enrolment

The fate of 555 government schools is uncertain with no students in the age group of 6 and 14. "These schools have ceased to function because of lack of enrolments, not non-performance. The faculty is ready and even if we get two students, we will go ahead with classes. There are 200 schools in the state which haven't received a single application so far," said an SSA official.

Education department officials said the mushrooming of private unaided schools in taluks and districts are giving tough competition to government institutions.

RTE impact

Government schools are losing students because of RTE. DPI joint director Bella Shetty said 90,000 students joined private unaided schools under the quota.

But officials implementing RTE said out of the 1.15 lakh RTE seats, 12,000 are vacant because of lack of applications. They claimed parents are choosing private unaided schools over government ones because of medium of instruction and transportation facilities.

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The Times of India, 5 April, 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Karnatakas-dropout-rate-dips-as-midday-meals-lure-kids/articleshow/51690096.cms


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