The Early Warning System, a project of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) that tracks absenteeism, detected that a total of 6,67,732 children were absent for seven consecutive working days or more than 20 out of 30 working days from April 2023 to February 22, 2024. Launched in March 2022, the Early Warning System not only takes data from the Directorate of Education’s (DoE) online attendance tracking system but also tracks the reasons encompassing a range of socio-economic, health, and safety issues for absenteeism such as sickness, bullying, substance abuse, missing child, child labour/ marriage, disability, and denial of resources like books or uniform, sexual offences or sexually inappropriate behaviour towards the student, etc. By identifying these underlying factors, the system provides valuable insights into the complex challenges facing vulnerable children and communities.
Earlier, an RTI was filed by The Indian Express in response to which the DCPCR provided the data and informed that it tracks a total of 22 reasons why students are likely to remain absent. However, for the 6,67,732 children, DCPCR could not give specific reasons for absence from school.
How does the Early Warning System work?
DCPCR has hired CyFuture (a call centre), under which 25 associates work. Once the student is detected absent by the system, an SMS is sent to the parent/ guardian. Post this, a phone call is made by associates of the Early Warning System in which they enquire about the reason for absence. Ujjawal Bhatnagar, Operations Manager at CyFuture, has informed that once the reason is known, the same is escalated to DCPCR. In case any family is non contactable, a home visit is made after three unsuccessful attempts.
Between January and March 2023, DCPCR and two NGOs visited 45,000 homes as per the alerts from the early warning system. If a student doesn’t come back to school even after being contacted, another home visit is planned. However, after certain officials left their positions, it seems these visits might have been discontinued. In response to the RTI, the DCPCR has listed 53 cases where home visits were made beginning from April last year. These visits were based on complaints and specific cases of students who were absent from school. However, it’s not clear if such visits resulted in children returning to school.
One case involved a 16-year-old who got married last year. The DCPCR marked this case to find the child’s current address and visit their home. Other cases involved children working instead of going to school due to various reasons like financial problems or family issues. For example, one student worked to take care of his brother after their parents passed away. Another student worked because his father was sick.
The Early Warning System (EWS) relies on data collected from the Directorate of Education’s (DoE) online attendance tracking system. Each school that comes under the Delhi Government’s education system has to mark attendance reports online. Taking data from this, the EWS identifies students who exhibit patterns of absenteeism. The system then generates alerts to relevant stakeholders such as school administrators, teachers, child welfare authorities, etc. In addition to generating alerts, the EWS also analyses attendance data to identify trends, patterns, and areas of concern.
EWS also leverages data analytics and real-time monitoring to identify patterns and areas of improvement in student attendance. By analysing attendance data, educators and administrators can also formulate effective strategies, interventions, and best practices for improving attendance rates by reducing dropout rates and promoting student welfare.
