Indian Express 25.01.2010
Successful alumni out to tackle high dropout rate in civic schools
From Gavaskar to Narendra Jadhav, they plan to stress role of education in lives
To counter the increasing dropout rates in municipal schools, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has turned to successful professionals who have passed out from municipal schools, for help. As many as 250 alumni from various BMC schools gathered last week to encourage over 1,000 students and their parents.
Among the well known names were cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, member of the union government’s Planning Commission Narendra Jadhav, Marathi theatre personality Bharat Jadhav and scientist Dr Raghunath Mashelkar.
Poverty, absenteeism amongst municipal teachers, poor quality of food served, sub-standard quality of education and dismal state of school buildings are some of the reasons for the high dropout rate and low literacy rate amongst municipal school students.
Dr Ram Barot, chairman of the BMC’s education committee said that the idea behind the programme was to show the municipal students what heights they are capable of achieving. “Because of the poor state of public education in the country, civic school students feel inferior to those studying in private schools. In most cases, poverty leads them to quit school and start working,” said Barot.
At present, about 4 lakh students study in the 1,114 municipal primary schools and 60,000 students in 176 secondary schools. The dropout rate in the eighth and ninth standard is estimated at 30 per cent.
Other alumni included corporators, doctors, teachers, chartered accountants, journalists etc. Jadhav, who studied in a municipal school in Wadala, urged parents to understand the need of educating their children. “It is not right for parents to give the excuse of poverty and make their children work. Municipal schools offer free education and every economically backward family should take advantage of this facility,” said Jadhav.
Gavaskar, who was not present at the event, sent an audio-visual message saying that a municipal school student is as capable of taking on the world as any other student from a high-end private school.
