Ranchi, June 25: Godda deputy commissioner Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh is on a mission to ensure zero school dropouts in his district whose contours will change when the proposed 1,600MW coal-fired Adani power plant comes up.

The deputy commissioner believes that with Godda entering a new phase of industrialisation, a new generation must be properly educated to avail the full fruits of the development.

The main problem among schoolchildren in this rebel-hit backward district is that many drop out at middle and high school levels. Along with poverty and rebel fears, children also drop out of a few schools due to lack of teachers.

Deputy commissioner Singh said Godda had 2,752 teachers at 1,651 state-run schools with an overall student-teacher ratio of 71:1. At the same time, whatever teachers there are, are unevenly distributed across schools.

Deputy commissioner Singh, who has in the first phase of his zero dropout mission chosen 247 schools in 45 out of the 1,600 panchayats in his district, but spread across all nine blocks, wants to address these problems at the start of his zero dropout mission.

Under Right to Education Act, the student-teacher ratio in primary schools should be 30:1 and in middle schools 35:1. Over 80 per cent of 247 schools taken up under the deputy commissioner's special drive don't fulfil this criteria.

For example, the government primary school in Sohra village of Dhapra panchayat, Basantrai block, has only one teacher for 145 students. The upgraded middle school in Parasia village in Kenwan panchayat of Boarijore block has two teachers for 329 students.

But on the other hand, the upgraded middle school in Dumaria village of Babupur panchayat, again in Boarijore, has six teachers for 101 students, and the upgraded primary school in nearby Bherenda village of same panchayat has two teachers for 18 students.

"We need to rationalise teachers across schools for a more balanced scenario," stressed the deputy commissioner. "Yes, we want to put every child in school but we also need adequate number of teachers in each," he said. "Statistical accounts of schools across 45 panchayats, in question, are perhaps the overview of the real state of affairs in my district. We have to begin from scratch," he admitted.

The deputy commissioner added that he would soon submit detailed reports of his findings to the state government.

Power plant

Godda deputy commissioner Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh said hearing of objections by land donors for the Adani power plant would begin from July 1. Those land donors who do not have any grievance or those who withdraw complaints during hearings will consequently start getting their due compensation amounts.