Bhopal: 527 girls stopped going to school this year: Survey

Bhopal: About 527 girls stopped going to school this year due to different reasons. This was revealed during the survey conducted by Madhya Pradesh Child Rights Observatory Organisation (MPCRO) in five municipal wards and 23 villages in Raisen, Rajgarh, Khandwa and Indore district in 2017-18.

Madhya Pradesh Child Rights Observatory Organisation president Nirmala Buch disclosed the findings of survey at the workshop conducted by MPCRO on Thursday. Buch said that the organisation had launched programme, Meri Bhi Suno, in these districts and found 527 girls had stopped going to school.

During the survey, it was revealed that more than 73 percent girls between 15 to 18 years of age had stopped going to school. In Khandwa district, more than 93 percent of the girls of 15 to 18 years of age had stopped going to school. In Raisen, the number was 87 percent.

Of them, 34 percent of the girls stopped going to school because they failed in the examination while 28 percent of them had left the school because it was too far. In Rajgarh district, 62 percent of the girls had left the school for similar reasons.

About 3 percent of parents withdrew girls from school as they didn’t want to educate them further. According to Nirmala Buch, the dropout girls were motivated to rejoin schools and those who were not interested were given training in vocational skills.

At the workshop, she asked girls to adopt modern technology for education. Buch said she send the report to government to help it identify the problem and solve it.

Girls shared their success story in the workshop. Student Hansa Solanki from Rajgarh said that one of their teachers was transferred from the school after which the girls had stopped going to school. When the teacher was brought back, girls started going to school again.

Another student Anita Bavane from Khandwa said, “My mother had withdrawn my name from school though I was a good student. With help of MPCRO, I joined again.” She runs a beauty parlour at present.