Monday, December 6, 2010

Non-formal schools under SS Abhiyan benefit dropouts

Non-formal schools under SS Abhiyan benefit dropouts
Under the 'Sarva Siksha Abhiyan' the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation education department has initiated non-formal schools to bring dropout and illiterate children in mainstream schools, thousands have got the benefit of the same.
These children are either found working in small tea shops or garages or in assisting their parents at construction sites or collecting garbage, sometimes they are also seen begging around. The girl child is found taking care of younger siblings.
Yogesh Hanurkkar, Assistant Education Officer informed "Under the banner of Mahatma Phule Siksha Yojana-2001, we had initiated 15 centres in the city which include Quarry, Vashi village, Kopri Village, Samrat Nagar, Nocil Naka and Yadav Nagar. Each year we have at least 325 students going under two years informed education and later they are admitted to the formal schools run by the corporation. Till date we have been able to admit 3600 students.
Out of the 15 centres, eight are run by ARPHEN, one by Stri Mukti Sangathana and two by REAP all NGO's while rest four are run by the corporation. Each centre has a minimum of 20 such students getting ready to enter the mainstream, assisted by one or two teachers depending upon the number of students and the locality. They are not only given basic education but are also taught the way to live their life in a clean and better environment, value education is the most important part of the training being imparted to them.
"Our students are mostly children in the age group of three to sixteen they are either street children, rag-pickers, working in hotels, garages or children of un-organized sector workers", he concludes.

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