The education department of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has managed to track and bring around 423 “out-of-school” students into the mainstream formal education process for the current academic session.
The fresh enrolments are a result of an intensive door-to-door survey launched by MBMC’s education department to identify out-of-school children under the state government’s “Mission Zero Dropout”- a 15-day campaign aimed at finding dropouts and admitting them to the nearest municipal school. The campaign was held from 5 July to 20 July.
“Prior to this 15-day initiative, we had launched a drive which led to more than 750 new admissions in April. With these 423 fresh admissions adding up, the total number of students in MBMC-run schools has jumped from 6500 to 8200,” said deputy municipal commissioner- Ajit Muthe.
The campaign covered railway stations, bus stands, markets, slum clusters, construction sites, tribal hamlets and villages in coastal and rural areas of the twin city. For this, the education department had roped in teachers and volunteers attached to the Samagra Shiksha mission.
The administration not only helped prepare necessary documents for students but also ensured their admissions at the municipal school nearest to their homes.
At present, there are 36 municipal schools which impart education in Marathi, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati and semi-English modes to students who mostly come from a poor economic backgrounds.
The education department claims that it would soon introduce smart schools, scholarship schemes, and special English language coaching in 55 divisions of 36-MBMC-run schools.
Training sessions and practical demos of the digital education system for teachers and principals were recently held in the presence of MBMC chief- Dilip Dhole.
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