Daltonganj: To curb absenteeism and irregular attendance among children in govt schools, the Palamu administration on Saturday launched ‘Palamu Parwaaz: Har Bachchey Ki Udan, Shikchha K Saath’ at Khura Kalan village under Chainpur block.The initiative was launched by Palamu DC Dilip Pratap Singh Shekhawat. District education officer Sandeep Kumar said the programme was held in an open village plot instead of a school campus to emphasise that the campaign is aimed more at convincing parents to send their children to school regularly.Around 50 to 60 parents attended with their wards in school uniform. Shekhawat interacted with students and asked girls why they skip classes. Their reply was: “We don’t come to school for nothing.” An IPRD statement said the DC focused on two issues: reducing dropouts and minimising irregular attendance. Administrative sources said daily irregular attendance in govt schools averages 25% to 30%.The DEO said, “The state education department has redefined dropout case. If a child is found absent for a considerable number of working days of the school he is enrolled in, then it’s a dropout case.”Palamu has 4.80 lakh students enrolled in 2,600 govt schools as per UDISE and midday meal records. The monthly dropout figure is a little over 1,000, but officials said irregular attendance is the bigger concern.Reasons may include illness, measles, menstruation, farm work, festivals, migration and children being engaged in household livelihood activities.
