E-Paper
U.P. govt starts “Sharda” programme to get dropouts back in schools
The Uttar Pradesh government has launched the "Sharda" programme to find and enrol students who have dropped out of school. School principals, teachers and others will conduct a household survey to identify out-of-school children and enrol them in age-appropriate classes. Special training will be arranged for them, and they will be linked to social security schemes. The initiative will be conducted in two phases, with the first phase starting on April 1, 2023. Monitoring of 20 schools will be done every month by special educators, with information uploaded through the "Sharda" app.
The Uttar Pradesh government has started “Sharda (School Har Din Aayein)” programme to find and enrol the students who have dropped out of schools again. It has also launched “School Chalo Abhiyan”, said a government official.
Under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, there is a provision that children in the age group of 6-14 years who are out of school, should be identified and enrolled in age-appropriate classes and special training should be arranged for them.
To effectively implement this provision, instructions are given from time to time to run the “Sharda” initiative under the direction of the DM.
The order issued by director general, school education, Vijay Kiran Anand says there is a provision for re-admission of all out-of-school children under the “Sharda” scheme. The dropouts can be divided into two categories—children who have never been enrolled in school and those who were earlier enrolled but due to some reasons left the school without completing their education.
As per the order, school principals, teachers, shiksha mitras, instructors, and each BTC trainee will conduct a household survey in order to identify out-of-school children and enrol them in classes that are appropriate for their age.
This campaign will be conducted in two phases in the academic session 2023-24. In the first phase, children will be identified and enrolled in age-appropriate classes from April 1, 2023 to May 15, 2023. In the second phase, identification and enrolment of children of families affected by brick kiln mines and seasonal migration in age-appropriate classes will be done from July 1, 2023, to July 31, 2023.
Besides, identification of out-of-school children with special needs will also be carried out simultaneously. It would be followed by their enrolment in the age-appropriate classes. Migration certificates will be made available to the migrating children so that the child can be enrolled in the school nearest to the place of migration.
According to the instructions, the first assessment (baseline assessment) of all out-of-school children enrolled for special training in classes 2 to 8 will take place through the Sharda app after 15 days of identification. The second assessment will be done in October, the third assessment in January and the fourth assessment in March.
Based on the results of the assessment, a teaching plan will be prepared by the nodal teacher for the education of the nominated out-of-school children. Regular attendance of these children will be monitored regularly by the designated nodal teacher and headmaster for special training, said Anand.
To bring them into the mainstream, these children will be linked to social security schemes. Arrangements will be made to provide special training to out-of-school children enrolled in age-appropriate classes in schools on the basis of “Sharda” curriculum. For this, nodal teachers have been trained at the block level.
Monitoring of 20 schools will be done every month by special educators and information regarding identification, enrolment, evaluation, and attendance of out-of-school children will be uploaded through the “Sharda” app, he said.
