Yogi govt targets re-enrolling school dropouts between ages of 6 and 14 in UP

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 19 (ANI): With an aim to provide education to every child in the state, the Yogi Adityanath government is mulling re-enrolling the school dropout students, particularly in the ages of 6 to 14 years in Uttar Pradesh.
The move of the government comes besides various awareness campaigns for the parents to motivate them to educate their children.
"...the government will now bring back students who dropped out at some stage, to schools. Under this, a framework is being prepared to implement the Netherlands' Early Warning System in Uttar Pradesh," an official statement said.
In order to understand the operation of the system of the Netherlands, a team of 12 people including the Basic Education Minister will visit the Netherlands in March.
"The system is likely to be implemented by the end of this year," the statement said.
According to a survey by the state's Basic Education Department, 4.81 lakh children were found out of school in 2020-21, more than 4 lakh in 2021-22 and 3.30 lakh in 2022-23.
"These children in the age group of 6 to 14 years have been re-admitted to the school and now the state government is working on such a system so that the tracking starts within 40 days as soon as the child leaves the school," the statement said.
Director General of School Education, Uttar Pradesh, Vijay Kiran Anand informed that on the lines of the Netherlands' Early Warning System, special efforts will be made to connect the absent children ie out-of-school children with the mainstream of education.
"Parents of children who are continuously absent from school due to any reason will be encouraged to send their wards to school," he said.
He informed that information will be collected on children who do not come to school for a specified time or who spend less time in school.
The Director General further said that if a child remains absent from school for 40 days, his tracking will be started immediately.
"To start this system in the basic schools of Uttar Pradesh in a time-bound manner, a 12-member team of award-winning teachers from UP along with education officers under the leadership of Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Basic Education Sandeep Singh will go to the Netherlands on an educational tour. This team will be involved in the practice of innovation and learning about the early warning system," the statement said.
Under the Early Warning System, if a child remains absent from school continuously for 40 days, he is tracked and his parents are contacted to find out the reason for the child not attending school.
After this, a team is formed to bring back most of the absent children to school. It is believed that this system of the Netherlands will help bring children back to school in UP. (ANI)