Reducing school drop outs in rural India

Malini, a resident of Palur village, studies class IV in the government primary school in the village. This little girl with a shrill voice shows keen interest in dancing and all other extra-curricular activities. Her parents are daily wage labourers. Due to poor economic background Malini along with her sister was admitted in to this home.

Malini was observed to be a slow learner in class. Despite being a good listener and an obedient child during class hours, she could not fare very well in studies since she had a problem with retention and recalling. She was sent to attend the special classes and tuitions handled by our Project-appointed para-teachers. The para-teachers engaged her in regular exercises, activities and games to help improve her memory. The para-teachers also gave her individual attention and Malini cooperated well with them during special classes. We regularly motivated her through personal interaction. Gradually, she started to respond positively and improvements were seen in her academic outcomes over the year. We continue to motivate her through regular interaction. A major improvement in her studies when compared to the last academic year was observed. She not only passed in all the subjects but scored 60% and above in all the subjects. She started to read in Tamil and English with some fluency. Therefore, she was integrated into the main stream classes. Her class teacher who is the also the school’s Head Mistress is very happy with her transformation and performance at school. We will continue to interact with her and record her improvements.

The new school year started in June 2016 and the project activities were continued in ongoing manner.  Since this is a new year, planning for the coming school year was also done including assessment of students and areas for improvements. 

• Comprehensive School Assessments were conducted in each of the project school through an in-depth interview with the teachers and Head Mistress, and through observations in order to know more about the school and school environment, identify gaps and needs, and prepare a comprehensive plan of action.
• Various needs identified through the school assessment have been fulfilled by the Project in each of the schools over the course of the project year. 
• Activity-based, interactive after-school tuitions and special classes are being held for slow learners.
• Computer classes have been initiated conducted by para-teachers in association with class teachers

A meetings of parents was organized in some of the schools. The main focus of the meeting was to address some of the issues related to children. The meeting served as a platform to engage with the parents on issues such as school regularity, punctuality, and child nutrition, personal hygiene of children, and child health not only physical but emotional and mental health and child abuse. Parents were encouraged to view the world from the child’s perspective and provide greater attention to the child’s needs. The resource person stressed more on the importance of paying attention and listening to children as most of the parents never do it in their day-to-day life due to work pressure.

Awareness/ counselling session was conducted for students of IVth and Vth class. The session was divided into three parts- a general discussion with the boys and girls separately and a one-on-one interactive session. The topics addressed for the girls included self-awareness, self-worth and sexual abuse. The topics for boys included behaviour, discipline and self-awareness. Many students used the opportunity for one-on-one interactions with the Counsellor and discussed their deepest concerns.  Based on the activity conducted during group counselling session, few children were identified with serious problems at home, including neglect, low self-esteem, aggression issues etc. One-on-one counselling with the counsellor helped the children to share and expressed their anxiety and feelings.