Students hailing from villages of Ganjam district in Odisha are traversing difficult terrains, which includes wading through a water body, on a daily basis to get to schools in Andhra Pradesh since facilities are unavailable in their own state. And they do not mind doing so.
The lone school for two panchayats in Gudipadara village was in a run-down condition and shut down due to the pandemic. The institutions in Andhra Pradesh, which are right across the border, reopened a month back and even offered uniforms, healthy food and monetary assistance as well, providing better provisions overall.
Last month, around 50 primary school children from Tumba and Buratal panchayats, Patrapur block took admission in Andhra Pradesh schools in Purunagada, if sources are to be believed. Then there are the children from Gudipadar, Liabali, Batara sahi and Laida who wade through a nalla (sewer) of Mahendratanaya river on a daily basis to get to their school in Purunagada, which is across the border.
As per reports, several families in the bordering areas possess dual voter IDs and the pull of better facilities offered by the neighbouring state continues to be a determining factor.
Upon contacting Loknath Padhy, block education officer of Patrapur, he admitted that there are many students who have ended up joining schools in Andhra Pradesh. Now that schools have reopened in Odisha too, the parents of the students are being convinced to bring back their children, he said.
E-Upastapana, an application to check for absenteeism of students and teachers in government schools, was recently launched by the Ganjam administration. This app will inform authorities if teachers or Cluster Resources Centre Coordinator (CRCC) are attending their respective schools. For the same purpose, 355 tablets will be provided to block education officers (BEO), additional block education officers (ABEO) and CRCCs.
BEOs, ABEOs and CRCCs of Chhatrapur, Ganjam and Rangeilunda received the tablets in the first phase. Through the tablet, data will be uploaded, complaints and feedback will be registered apart from monitoring other schemes. Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange stated that this is a step towards ensuring quality education for students. He also added that defaulting teachers will be taken to task.
