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Poor Badi children drop out of school

KANCHANPUR, JUL 09 -
Gita Rana from Badi community at Suda Village Development Committee -8 in Kanchanpur district passed this year’s School Leaving Certificate examination in second division.

Rana is the first person to pass the SLC exam from the community in the district so far. However, her ambition to pursue further studies may meet her waterloo for lack of money.

“I want to pursue a staff nurse course, but penury has stood in my way,” she said.

Her father Sibi said that he afforded Gita’s education so far despite hardship. “But I will not be able to foot her tuition bills now onwards for lack of money. I have just five kattha of land for a 10-member family to sustain,” he said.

Like Gita, many other students from the Badi community have been facing problems in continuing their studies due to economic deprivation. Their problems have only exacerbated after the government stopped allocating budget for Badi students in scholarship.

 The government had struck a 26-point agreement with National Badi Rights Struggle Committee four years ago to provide scholarship to Badi children.

Following this, the students from the Badi community up to grade 5 had been receiving Rs 600 each and those from grade 6 to 10 Rs 5,000 each, annually.

 Although the government allocated the full amount in the initial years, it reduced the amount to less than half from the previous year.

Sibi, also a Badi activist, said the reduction of state succour has added to their woes.  “Some Badi children were enrolled in schools with the hope of getting scholarship.

The reduction of scholarship amount has now increased their dropout,” he said.

Sibi said there were 167 Badi students in the district earlier and the number has now reduced to 128.

 

Posted on: 2011-07-10 09:12

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