‘Out-of-school’ kids: One-day survey in city faces hiccups

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“We have been allotted pockets such as slums and railway stations. We checked hotels and garages where kids work. In slums, many houses were locked,” said a teacher from Kandivali’s Hilda Castellino school. “Unlike the Census, we were not allotted areas and households systematically. Hence there was confusion.” She was allotted 100-200 households but ended up surveying more as the slum colony was larger than she expected.

Some teachers could not find a single student for 10 hours. “I was allotted slum areas between Ramabai Colony and T Y Thorat Marg in Chembur. I started at 8 am and completed 165 households but could not find a single out-of-school or dropout kid till 5 pm,” said Chandrakant Ghodekar, a teacher from Subhash Nagar Municipal Hindi School, Chembur.

Teachers in Navi Mumbai and Thane were provided maps of 2011. “I was supervising 12 blocks in Ghansoli. Around 24 surveyors were reporting to me. Most faced problems of wrong addresses,” said Yadav Laxman Shelke, from Rupashree Vidyalaya in Ghansoli.

Jyoshna Pawar, a teacher at Sheth M A High School, Andheri, said she was informed about the survey on Friday. No training session was held.

“The form is not legible. The print is minute,” she said, adding she was asked to create photocopies on her own for each child. “We read about the madrasa row, but were not given any instructions. I am not counting madrasa-going children as non-school kids as they are getting some form of education,” Pawar said.

Seema Paul, who surveyed Andheri West, said three officials were allotted over 800 households. Dr Meena Boudankar, medical officer in H-West Ward (Bandra) said children aged between six and 14 were covered.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com