Birth certificate keeps them out of school-30,000 Orissa children are denied admission

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By Debasis Tripathy in Kendrapara

While the govt. spends crores for spreading education far and wide according to the constitutional provisions, 30,000 tiny tots of this district fail to avail this privilege being denied of admission in different schools. Reason-they fail to produce their birth certificates.

According to sources, state elementary education department issued notices to all concern for the admission in the primary schools. In that notice it was stated that all the admissions were to be completed within 1st April to 16th April, for the current academic session and all the candidates were order to produce their respective birth certificates positively, failing of which their applications will stand rejected.

?As there was no such provision earlier, we were not conscious about that and could not arrange the birth certificate within such stipulated period for which our kids are denied admission, told Shri Ashok Das, a guardian of Aul Block while expressing his grief.

As per the government records, 35,150 children were enrolled last year and the number was expected to rise this year. But actually 4,125 students are admitted in 1438 schools of the district in toto, this year in urban areas the rate of enrollment is 20 per cent while mere 1 per cent admission has been reported in the rural areas. Besides these no enrollment is reported in 400 schools and out of those 123 schools of Aul block remains isolated.

On the other hand English medium schools running in the urban areas are flooded full filing the target of 65 to 70 per cent admission this year, where production of birth certificate has not been made compulsory. ? Undoubtedly this academic session is of the English medium schools while the government run schools remain isolated? – told a primary school teacher to this correspondent with request to withheld his name.

It is pertinent to mention here that, the district administration has decided to close 92 primary schools in the costal belt for severe corruptions, which created much steam in the public. More to say that many government run schools have no safe drinking water facilities which woes much ire among the guardians. It makes the guardians to admit their kids in the private run English Medium Schools.