A field study conducted by two NGOs has found students from Adi-Dravidar and Tribal Welfare (ADTW) Department-run schools to be the worst affected in terms of education, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study, done by the Centre for Child Rights and Development (CCRD) and the Resource Organisation for Development and Transformative Studies (ROOTS), involved field visits to 11 ADTW-run schools in Vellore, Ranipet and Tiruvannamalai districts, apart from consultations with staff from the department-run schools in the State.
According to the study, roughly 70% students from the schools were not continuing their education regularly since the pandemic began. They neither had access to internet-enabled mobile phones for online classes nor to educational programmes telecast through the government-run Kalvi TV, the study said.
Importantly, the study said there were no mechanisms in place to be in touch with students who left the department-run hostels when pandemic began. The study said staff from the schools did not seem to know what happened to a majority of the students.
The team found poor infrastructure, lack of adequate safety mechanisms and encroachments in many of the schools. The infrastructure was particularly poor in schools in Melkavanur in Vellore district and Karai in Ranipet district, the study said.
While the overall number of students studying in the roughly 1,135 schools run by the department declined between 2016-17 and 2019-20, the study pointed out that the decline was observed only in primary schools. In middle, high and higher-secondary schools, the enrolment increased.
Citing poor infrastructure and mushrooming of private schools as key reasons for the decline in enrolment in primary schools, the study stressed the need to strengthen infrastructure to attract more students.
Highlighting that the schools for Adi-Dravidars began functioning a century ago, the study said there was a need to strengthen them. Key recommendations included reconstructing dilapidated buildings, improving classroom infrastructure, ensuring internet connections and smart classroom facilities, removing encroachments from school campuses, and increasing the money sanctioned for food in hostels.
The report said there was a need for full allocation of the money reserved under the Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan to the ADTW Department, and to ensure its effective utilisation.
The study said schoolteachers often came under the supervision of revenue officials, who it said were inefficient in understanding issues related to schools. It stressed the need to appoint special education officers. It said village-level committees, with participation from students and their families, should be formed for supervising the schools.
