NGO plans rally to pep up children

A ‘School Chalo Rally’ is being organised near the slums of Antop Hill to create enthusiasm among children to join the nearest school for free education.

Organised by LIFE Trust, an NGO working in education space, the rally will have at least 2,500 participants, including anganwadi teachers, helpers, Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) supervisors and students.  

There are around 744 anganwadis across Bandra, Wadala, Dharavi, Sewri, Antop Hill and Govandi.

Even though the enrolment rate is over 95%, the dropout rate at the municipal schools in these areas has been a major hurdle for the government. “The biggest challenge in addressing the dropout rate is that most municipal schools have classes only up to IV or VII. It is very hard to keep track of the students once they finish these levels,” said Poonam Lalvani, managing trustee of LIFE Trust.

Recently, 93 more municipal schools with higher secondary level were started in these areas. However, convincing the slum dwellers to send their children to school for free education requires lot of persuasion.

“This is why we are organising the rally. The teachers and students will try to convince the economically-backward families that they should take advantage of the free education provided by the government,” said Lalvani.