UP to follow Netherlands' model to check school drop-outs

Lucknow, Feb 20 The Uttar Pradesh government will be sending a 12-member team led by Sandeep Singh, the Basic Education Minister to The Netherlands to study the 'Early Warning System'.

This model is likely to help the state re-enrolling school dropouts, particularly in the age bracket of 6 to 14 years, said a government spokesman.

The Netherlands has developed what they call an 'Early Warning System' to prevent kids from dropping out of schools. Under the system, a child is tracked by the authorities if he/she remains absent from school for more than 40 days.

The parents (or guard) are then contacted and it is made sure that the child returns to the school.

A similar model may soon be implemented in Uttar Pradesh as well to reduce school drop-outs.

Along with implementing 'The Netherlands' model, the state also plans to run various awareness campaigns to encourage parents towards sending their wards to school. The system is likely to be implemented by the end of this year.

According to the Basic Education Department survey, nearly 4.81 lakh children were found out of school in 2020-21 in the state.

This figure was more than 4 lakh in 2021-22 and 3.30 lakh in 2022-23.

Vijay Kiran Anand, director general of school education, said: "On the lines of the Early Warning System, special efforts will be made to connect the absent children out-of-school children with the mainstream of education.

"Parents of children, who are continuously absent from school due to any reason, will be encouraged to send their wards to school."