LUCKNOW: A day after Sitapur DM Sheetal Verma issued an order restricting the movement of children without their elders, the attendance at schools in the most-affected area
Khairabad saw empty classrooms on Monday.
The education officials of the district said that after the string of attacks from May 1, attendance had dropped to 50% on May 6 and had not improved since. On Monday, a day after a 10-year-old girl
Reena was killed in Khairabad, the attendance further dipped to just 20%.
Block education officer Dinesh
Chand told TOI that there are 149 primary schools in Khairabad and all have seen a huge dip in attendance.
“We are concerned and are holding awareness campaign. We are urging parents to bring their children to schools instead of confining them to their homes,” said Chand. The schools in Maheshpur Chillawar, Gurpaliya, Tikariya, Koliya, Badrikheda, Kurheta, Govindsarai, Newada, Maluhi Saraiya, Mahsinghpur in Khairabad, in
Bhagautipur of
Talgoan and Budhanpur of Kotwalinagar have been defined as being in hypersensitive zone prone to attacks. Officials are meeting villagers and asking them to send children in groups along with some elders .
Locals, however, blamed the administration for lackadaisical approach and inept handling since November 2017 to May 1during which nine children were killed in sporadic incidents.
The administration woke up only when parents of those injured in May 1attack gheraoed the DM’s office. It first asked the municipal corporation to find out a way even when it lacked resources and technical expertise to handle the menace. Then forest department was asked to help but it wrote back stating, “As dog is not a wild animal it cannot counter its menace.” When two children were killed on May 4 the administration called a team from Mathura to catch dogs. On May 5, another child was killed after which the administration roped in animal behavioural experts, WWF and Indian veterinary research institute team.
Representative image