Jamshedpur, Jan. 8: They may not be as lucky as Phunsukh ‘Rancho’ Wangdu — the young errand boy in the blockbuster movie 3 Idiots whose rich master sponsors his engineering studies — but all is (going to be) well for dozens of child workers with the East Singhbhum district education office deciding to start night schools once again.
After a gap of a year, it will resume its survey to identify children in the age group of 6-14 years and admit them to night schools. The drive is expected to kick off this month. “We had planned it for December, but could not conduct a survey because of the Assembly elections and winter vacation. Now, we will do so in the third week of January and have roped in NGOs for the purpose,” said Prakash Kumar, the additional district programme officer (ADPO).
He added that the night classes would be conducted on the premises of both private and government schools between 6pm and 8.30pm.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, recommends night schools for children who cannot attend in the morning. Even before the right to education bill was passed, Jharkhand had, in 2006, implemented the concept. Around 1,400 children from East Singhbhum alone had benefited from the scheme.
In 2008-09, 350-odd children — mostly child workers or dropouts — were admitted to night schools. After nine months, they were placed in regular government schools across the district.
Last year, however, night schools were not held because the block resource person (BRP) and cluster resource person (CRP) could not identify child workers and dropouts in significant numbers.
This time, the district education office is sanguine of numbers. “The minimum number of students required to start a night school is 15. We have information that several BPL children have migrated to the district from neighbouring Orissa and Bengal in search of work,” a senior functionary said, adding that the education office would also conduct a workshop in the next couple of days to train CRPs and BRPs.
Elaborating on how classes would be conducted, district education officer Sushil Kumar said: “We do not teach subject-wise as night schools are mainly for capacity building. If an eight-year-old is attending school for the first time, we will first motivate him to study. It is after a summer camp that these students join regular schools.”
Eleven-year-old Mohammad Hamid, who works as a mechanic in Golmuri, welcomed the education department’s initiative.
“Mujhe padhna tha par Class IV ke baad padh nahin saka kyonki pitaji guzar gaye. Main padh ke aage badhna chahta hoon. Main night school mein zarur jana chahunga (I wanted to study but couldn’t after Class IV because my father died. I want to study and make progress in life. I will definitely like to go to a night school),” said the boy, who migrated to the steel city from Keonjhar district of Orissa in search of a job.
