‘ School FIR camps’ to bring back dropouts

Six to eight lakh children in Delhi are not attending schools. Around 1.5 lakh of these are differently abled, one lakh are children of construction workers, two lakh are child labour, who either work in shops, factories or homes, Agarwal said.

With a view to document the number of children left out of the school system in the national capital, a city- wide camp is being organised on Sunday by an NGO.

The objective of the initiative is to identify and bring together students from across the city, who are not being able to attend schools for different reasons, and try to bring them back into the school system.

Called “school FIR camps”, the programme by non- government organisation Social Jurist will be held at around 100 different areas across the capital from 8 am to 1: 30 pm on June 24 ( Sunday).

“Around six to eight lakh children in Delhi are not attending schools. Around 1.5 lakh of these are differently abled, one lakh are children of construction workers, two lakh are child labour who either work in shops, factories, or homes. Also, many lakhs of girls and boys have dropped out from schools. We will try to document these children. Every complaint would be dealt with,” said Ashok Agarwal, convener of the programme.

He also added that the name, “FIR camps”, indicates that this will be an

effective instrument wherein a copy of the complaint will be given to the complainant also.

“All school related complaints will be recorded in their own language. All their contact details will be taken. We will consolidate these complaints and identify the kind of problems these kids are facing and take action accordingly,” he said.

He also urged Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to make their initiative an official programme.

The convener of the programme further said that any organisation, individual, teacher, student, or parent can organise the said event at their respective localities after getting in touch with the organising committee of the NGO.