Guest students stay back in Kerala schools

KOCHI: The Covid-19 outbreak and the ensuing national lockdown in March triggered an unprecedented development. The country saw lakhs of migrant workers uprooting their lives from cities, where they had come for employment, and travelling back to their hometowns.The great Indian reverse migration, as it is now being referred to, not only left the economic stability of the labourers in question but also dealt a huge blow to the educational prospects of their children.

However, in Kerala, where the government has made significant strides with regard to inducting wards of migrant workers into the education system, a recent survey report by Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK) has found that approximately 90 per cent of immigrant students have been retained in schools notwithstanding the pandemic. Although the state records a large influx of people from Bihar, Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, a majority of immigrant children enrolled in various government schools in Kerala belong to the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. 

Of the total 11,733 children, a little less than a third or precisely 3,321 are from Tamil Nadu alone. The report also found that 98 per cent of migrant parents surveyed were cognisant of the importance of their child’s education. “Labourers who come from northern or far-away states don’t usually migrate with their families. Often, it is only the men who travel. Whereas, a majority of migrants from Tamil Nadu have settled here. This could be the reason why more Tamil-speaking students are in schools,” said Dr P S Sreekala, director, Literacy Mission Kerala.  

As per the report, while 98.7 per cent of migrant parents from neighbouring states intend to stay permanently in Kerala with 92 per cent of them not facing any issues with Malayalam as the medium of instruction. Over 90 per cent of seasonal migrants think that a common medium would be suitable for their children and assure the continuation of education after further migration.

In a concerning finding, 80.4 per cent of seasonal migrants from non-neighbouring states are averse to enrolling their kids in schools here.  Even as the considerably low dropout rate of immigrant pupils this academic year has come as a positive marker, Samagra Shiksha Kerala is charting a course of action to make classes more accessible to students from other states. The report calls for the inclusion of pedagogy which relates to their native culture and experiences to ensure interest and retention. 

“A major section of immigrant parents identify Kerala as a welfare state. The study, in fact, revealed that 67 per cent of all immigrant parents believe Kerala provides the best educational opportunities. The Roshini initiative which has reaped encouraging results in Ernakulam was started by the district administration with the help of CSR funds. In other districts, the Samagra Shiksha programme is continuing similar activities. We are engaging volunteers so that they can give bilingual support to students. With the new virtual education system, we have ensured that most of the immigrant students have means to attend online classes,” said Dr Kuttikrishnan A P, state project director, Samagra Shiksha Kerala.