The Department of School Education has requested the Grama Volunteer, Ward Volunteer and Village Secretariat, Ward Secretariat (GVWV&VSWS) Departments of Andhra Pradesh to engage Village and Ward Secretariat Functionaries to identify the 1.73 lakh school dropouts and help bring them back to mainstream school education, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.

After requests from the Department of School Education, Sagili Shan Mohan Director of the GVWV&VSWS Department has instructed all the District Collectors to issue instructions to all Mandal Parishad Development Officers (MPDOs) and Municipal Commissioners to involve the Welfare & Education Assistants/WEDPSs to verify the names of the children who are found to be dropouts in the village or ward.

The Director also stated that the dropouts need to be enrolled in schools again with the help of volunteers. The commissioner also emphasised the role of the Welfare & Education Assistants/WEDPSs.

S Suresh Kumar, Commissioner, School Education, recently informed that during the 2022-23 academic year, 2.25 lakh dropout students were noted when compared to last year.

The efforts of the school headmasters and other employees from the Education Department have led to identifying and enrolling a few of the dropouts last week. Hence, he requested that GVWV&VSWS Department engage the Village/Ward Secretariat Functionaries to identify the remaining 1.73 lakh dropouts and bring them back to the schools.