Urban News

The Hindu 07.04.2010

Door-to-door survey of school dropouts to start this week

Aloysius Xavier Lopez

CHENNAI: A door-to-door survey of school dropouts and those children who are out of school will start this week in Chennai. According to officials of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, over 250 slum habitations in the city would be the focus of the survey. Apart from that, students who had dropped out of over 750 schools, including Corporation schools, Adi Dravida Welfare schools, government schools and government-aided schools in the city would also be identified.

The earlier method of collecting data on dropouts in the city involved the compilation of data provided by the principals of schools. “Now, we will focus on door-to-door verification, as principals of most of the schools tend to provide misleading data on student dropouts in their schools,” said an official of SSA.

Tracking the dropouts and mainstreaming them is the biggest challenge, the official added.

Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said that the civic body was yet to have a comprehensive data on the dropouts from its schools.

A sample survey conducted in George Town last year found 550 children to be out of school.

Based on the data compiled from the school attendance registers last year, the number of school dropouts was 4,039 in Chennai, said an official.

The new survey would give the actual picture of the dropouts and students who are out of school, the official added. “I want to become a doctor. I have understood the importance of going to school,” said S.Sivakami, a Corporation school dropout who has been traced by officials of SSA recently.

Based on the findings of the survey, the Chennai Corporation and other agencies would decide on the strategy to reduce the dropout rate and measures to bring more children to school.

The Hindu 05.04.2010

GHMC clips private agency's wings

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The GHMC has prepared ground to cancel powers given to a private agency to collect advertisement fee for glow/neon signboards by issuing notices following uproar from several quarters, including traders.

Yet, fee collection will continue and notices issued in the name of the municipal corporation itself and fee too will be collected through cheques issued in its name only. The agency, USM Solutions, will confine itself to collecting payments on GHMC's behalf, disclosed a senior official.

He pointed out that more than 300 cases were filed in the High Court by the traders protesting a private agency issuing notices and collecting fees. The HC is reported to have permitted only GHMC to issue notices or collect payments on its name. And such fees should not be collected for wall writings.

The agency will only get an incentive from the collection made which will be reviewed every three months. Couple of years ago, the civic body, claiming staff shortage, invited private agencies to issue notices and collect ad fees over glow/neon sign boards (estimated to be 1.25 lakh) dividing the capital into four zones with rates fixed at Rs. 1,200, Rs. 1,150, Rs. 800 and Rs. 700 per sq.mt.

USM Solutions took up the project for three years assuring payments of Rs. 10 crore, Rs. 12.5 crore and Rs. 15 crore. It also paid up Rs. 6 crore and another Rs. 4 crore in bank guarantee in the first year despite only two months left for 2008-2009 financial year to close. In its quest to make up, it went after traders only to encounter resistance and court cases with charges of harassment by agents employed by it.

Several trade associations had also urged GHMC to rein in the agency and only charge signboards having sponsors name. Lack of a proper legal framework was another anomaly pointed out.