A 12-year-old who has not studied past Class III, a six-year-old yet to be enrolled in school — the two were among 21 children found not attending school during an enrollment drive in South Delhi’s Chhatarpur Wednesday. Around 8 am, a team of around 20, including officials of the Directorate of Education (DoE) and teachers of special training centres (STCs) at MCD schools, gathered in a narrow lane beside a row of houses in Chhatarpur’s Ambedkar Colony. They set up a speaker that played a song on going to school, and kids and adults gathered around to find out what the noise was about. As the children gathered, Sofia Roz, an STC teacher at an MCD school, asked an 11-year-old if she was going to school. The child said she was not. After a little prodding, Roz had a few more details — the child used to go to an MCD school in Chhatarpur till Class V, and then stopped. Roz then wrote down her details and a contact number. A little while later, a mother of two, a 6-year-old and a 4-year-old, approached Roz. While her husband does painting and polishing work, the children were yet to be enrolled in school, she said. Roz wrote the kids’ details down and took a contact number. For the second time this month, the team spent a morning asking children they met outside houses in the lanes of Chhatarpur — “aap school jaate ho? (do you go to school?)” In some cases, their question was answered with a no, as was the case of a 12-year-old who moved with his family to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh, where he had been studying in class III. He did not continue studying in Delhi. The STC teachers collected their details, and a copy of an Aadhaar card or birth certificate where they could find it. “To open a bank account (for direct benefit transfers), the Aadhaar card will be necessary,” Roz said. Once their details are taken, the teachers tell the parents that the school will get in touch with them. “There are six schools, of the MCD and the Delhi government in the vicinity,” Roz added. Ashok Tyagi, Deputy Director of Education, South Delhi, who was at the drive said, “After details are taken, an assessment will be done. the STC (at MCD) will help out-of-school children reach an age-appropriate level of learning. They will be reassessed every three months and then they can attend regular school.” In a similar drive on May 17, the team helped enroll 19 students, up to the age of 13, he added. Some parents approached the team on Wednesday with questions — on the Ladli Scheme for girls, and how far the nearest government school is. A father of four, originally from Patna, who also does painting and polishing work, sought help with admission for his five-year-old. “In some cases, both parents work and there’s nobody around to take the child to school or bring them back. That’s why they don’t get them enrolled. There is also confusion sometimes over documents, what is needed and what is not,” Roz said.
