The Tripura government has decided to restart the Vidyalaya Cholo Abhiyan to bring back around 9,000 students aged between six and 14 who dropped out of 4,300 schools across the State during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government has also announced a new scheme, Earn with Learn, under which third-year college students will be tasked with conducting surveys to identify dropouts across classes and rewarded ₹500 for re-enrolling them in schools.
State Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said hundreds of students from Classes I to VIII dropped out when schools remained shut for two years due to the pandemic. In 2020, the government tried to implement the Vidyalaya Cholo Abhiyan, which was originally launched in 2009, to bring back dropouts, but could not make any headway owing to the continuation of the pandemic.
Under the Earn with Learn scheme, each volunteer will be given ₹500 if they enrol a dropout student in the same school. Anganwadi teachers will assist the volunteers to make sure the programme is a success.
Mr. Nath said the Education Department has also chalked out a plan to distribute school bags to all students studying in government and government-aided schools from nursery to Class II. The department will also provide bicycles to each girl student who gets promoted to Class X.
