Badi Baata to kickstart from today

Kothagudem: Jayashankar Badi Baata, the prestigious programme, undertaken by the Telangana State government to improve enrollments in State-run schools and reduce the number of dropouts, is all set to kickstart here on Monday.

Though there were allegations that lack of total commitment on part of the Education Department turned the programme a damp squib that failed to convince parents and children about the importance of education, the district Education officials said the programme was a success last academic year.

The programme aimed at attracting dropouts to schools was conducted after the summer vacation last year. This year, the programme is scheduled to begin from Monday as the government has already issued orders to District Education Officers.

As per the government directions, they are supposed to conduct awareness rallies and various other programmes to attract dropouts back to schools and encourage parents to send their wards to schools in all districts in the State.

According to records, Bhadradri-Kothagudem district conducted the programme the last academic year 2017-18 and identified dropouts in 1,061 primary schools and 171 high schools. A total of 1169 students were found dropped out from primary schools and another 1,189 from high schools.

After the completion of the Badi Bata programme, all the identified students were brought back to schools. It showed that teachers could make a little progress in the programme. The programme was conducted last year from June 13 to June 17. After the programme, the government implemented another programme for preventing child labour.

During the operation named Muskan or Smile, 500 cases were booked in and around the district. District Educational Officer D Vasanthi told The Hans India that the Jayashanker Badi Bata programme will start in the district on Monday. She said the programme was meant to attract school dropouts back to schools.

As part of the programme, rallies and other awareness programmes would be conducted in and around the district, she said. Teachers would give counselling to the parents who were not willing to send their chidren to schools and parents whose children were not willing to continue studies in the next academic year, she said.

She also said teachers in various schools in the district have been directed to identify the students who were not willing to continue studies. They would provide counselling to them and their parents on the importance of education.

Teacher would prepare a list of students who completed pre-primary classes in Anganwadi centres and encourage them to join schools apart of the programme, Vasanthi added. The programme was conducted during the summer vacation last year, but this time around, it would be conducted before the vacation from April 9 to 13. She appealed to the teachers and other officials to make the programme a big success and make sure that every dropout should come back to schools.