In India, states with a high tribal/rural population like Jharkhand have many school-going children who dropped out after finishing primary school as they do not find any upper primary or secondary school near their home or simply as they cannot afford to buy school books. The same thing happens with many when they finish secondary or senior secondary school.
In spite of the massive efforts that the Central Government and State Governments are making to reduce school dropout rates, the numbers are still quite worrisome. Affected by income deprivation and various other factors, dropout rates in some states with high tribal/rural populations are still very alarming.
For example, in Jharkhand, out of 100 school-going children, 17 drop out during primary school, 47 drop out during secondary school, and of the remaining, as many as 70% drop out after finishing secondary school. In Bihar, out of 100 school-going children, only 46 finish their secondary school. In West Bengal and Telangana, the figure is 55.
As per data available from U-DISE (Unified District Information System for Education) sources, in Jharkhand, only 30 out of 100 enrolled school children finish their senior secondary school while 53 finish secondary school. In Bihar, out of 100 enrolled school children, only 54 finish secondary school and 46 finish senior secondary school.
The rural schools have a lesser number of teachers than they should ideally have. This affects the quality of education and learning outcomes. Besides, in many families, school-going children in the age group of 6-14 are first-generation learners. So, there is no one at home to help with studies.
Many families cannot afford any cost of home tuition or any form of additional assistance. Many families cannot even afford to send their children to school even if school education is free because any little additional expenses are also unaffordable by these families.
You can take a pledge to bear all the educational expenses for school going children such as:
We have been taking care of a hostel at Giridih for the school-going children of the Birhor community, an endangered community in Jharkhand and have been sponsoring tribal/rural students for higher education.
Although there are different types of expenses to sponsor, the total amount will not be much. You will do enormous good for the nation if you help a youth transition from school to college and then to the workforce. Also, know who you are sponsoring and directly participate
Mongia Green Foundation is a Section -8, for impact, not for profit initiative of the Mongia Group of industries.