Ghost students: Cheema blames child marriage for dropout rate

SAS NAGAR: Punjab’s children continue to be pulled out of school and pushed into marriage and slave labour.

It came to light during a meeting of officers that Punjab education minister Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema had called on Wednesday to look into why more than 10,000 students skipped the examinations of Classes 5 and 8 this year. “There were nearly 20 cases of child marriage out of these. I will write to the deputy commissioners concerned to look into the matter,” said Dr Cheema.

All the DEOs concerned, besides heads of 121 primary and 264 middle schools, were told to look for ways to bring back the dropouts and take the help of volunteer organisations, local public representatives, and education guarantee scheme (EGS) teams if required. Most students who didn’t come back are children of migrant labourers. They quit school after moving into marriage and labour, or to a new place. The minister asked for a report on bogus admissions and promised permanent head teachers in the schools with more than 30 students.

“Nearly 8,000 teachers will be promoted for this, 4,500 posts of elementary teacher training ETT educator filled in 10 days, and advertisement issued for 2,000 teaching posts,” said Dr Cheema.