When several girl students stopped coming to school one after the other in Karur, a district in Tamil Nadu, it set alarm bells ringing in the district headquarters. Karur District Collector Prabhushankar T Gunalan took up this matter seriously and launched a programme called ‘Pallikooda Mani Adichachi’, which in English means ‘School Bell Has Rung’, to bring these girls back to school.
As he found out that there were several reasons behind their dropping out of school, he made a detailed plan accordingly to encourage the girls to join back their classes. Indian Masterminds spoke to Mr. Gunalan to find out how he managed to convince the girls and, also, their parents.
VAALIYAMPATTI HAMLET
Talking about the first instance, Mr. Prabhushankar said, “It all started with a message received on our District Child Helpline 8903331098, when the HM of RT Malai Govt School informed that 32 girls from the same hamlet Vaaliyampatti, belonging to Thottiya Nayakar community were not attending for a long time,”
This was shocking information as out of a total number of 300 students, more than 10 percent had dropped off. This was a big percentage and, hence, the administration had to do something about it.
Mr. Prabhushankar told Indian Masterminds, “Children dropping out of school is a general problem in the state, and this issue varies from place to place and have varied reasons. Covid pandemic was a major setback for people living in rural areas as everything was shut during the two-year lockdown. Soon after getting over the lockdown period, a high number of children stopped going to school.”
As rural parts of Karur district have their own unique reasons for children not attending school, there are some communities in which the administration had to intervene. A consultative meeting was held with government departments, NGOs and members from the Thottiya Nayakar community. The socio-cultural practices of the community and their impact on education, health and nutrition were discussed. During this meeting only, the administration decided to launch a comprehensive programme to change the scenario.
COUNSELLING
The very next day of the consultative meeting, RDO and other officials visited the village and briefed the community leaders, including the Mandhai Nayakar and sought their help. Door to door survey was done to assess the reasons for dropout and individual needs of all 300 families and the infrastructure needs of the village were assessed.
During the survey, it was found that the key reasons for dropouts included socio-cultural beliefs forbidding girls attaining puberty from certain activities, indulgence in farm activities and cattle rearing, disinterest in studies, and lack of bus connectivity. Counselling sessions of the girls as well as their parents were held and bus connectivity was assured.
The administration also roped in achievers from the same community as influencers to effect behavioural change. “Dr.Madhumitha, a veterinary surgeon, worked closely in the community to convince girls and their families to get them back to school. A retired District Judge also assisted in the cause,” wrote Mr. Prabhushankar.
TRUST BUILDING EXERCISE
After two days, a Special Meeting was held in the village which included all the villagers, district officials, Collector, people’s representatives, and community leaders. A magic show was held to create awareness on social issues and educative videos were shown.
During the event, the Collector made an earnest appeal to the audience with four specific requests. This included sending all dropout girls back to school, stopping child marriages, ensuring all children take noon meals (as taking outside food is forbidden) and lastly ensuring safety and hygiene of women during their periods.
The administration also took more measures to build confidence among the local community members by giving house site pattas, bank loans, OAP, PDS cards, and various revenue certificates.
COLLECTOR ACCOMPANIED GIRLS TO SCHOOL
Mr. Prabushankar said, “In response to our overwhelming efforts, the villagers promised to agree to our requests and send all the children back to school and ensure they don’t drop out again. We assured them that we will return on Monday with a new bus and personally escort children to school.”
The promise which was made by the Collector turned out to be true as Mr. Prabhushankar along with other officials returned to the village on the fixed day with a new bus launched by TNSTC. Out of the 32 children who dropped out, 25 children agreed to go back to school and they were given text books and notebooks. He travelled in the same bus and escorted them to school. The children received a warm welcome and started attending classes.
Mr. Prabhushankar said, “This is just a beginning of a larger intervention. Next step is to conduct a comprehensive survey wherein the school education department will follow the same step as taken in RT Malai Govt School. Also follow-up will be done for monitoring the students and preventing relapse.”
Apart from the teachers who will constantly mentor the students, ‘Illam Thedi Kalvi’ volunteer shall aid learning of kids in the evening and there will be a monthly review of attendance by Village Vigilance Committee.
Mr. Prabhu said, “This program differs from the conventional approach by seeking to address the structural and functional factors causing dropouts. Community participation, roping in influencers and community leaders, confidence building measures are the salient features to ensure sustainability.”
Based on the learnings from this program, the same efforts shall be replicated across the district in the days to come, to bring all ‘dropouts’ back to school and ensure smooth education for all children.
