‘Some Migrant Children have Gone Back to Seek Employment’

Q: What instructions have you received from the government regarding the reopening of schools from September 28th?

Cluster Resource Centre Coordinator (CRCC): The school has reopened only for classes 9-12. There is still no announcement from the government for classes 1-8. The Education department has asked all the CRCCs to teach the students of class 9th and 10th.

Q:What are your current tasks?

CRCC: We have been assigned a lot of tasks, including some election-related work. Apart from teaching students, we are also keeping a track of out-of-school children, children of migrants and drop-out students. We are ensuring that all the new students enrolled in the enrollment drive receive their entitlements.

For elections, the work of Booth Level Officer (BLO) has been assigned to us. We are responsible for adding/removing names from voter lists, delivering ballot paper to people who are more than 60 years old, and providing election training.

This time the number of booths have almost doubled, so the work has increased considerably.

Q: Is the enrollment of migrant children done? How many children have been enrolled in total?

CRCC: Around 40-50 migrant children have been enrolled, some have also gone back to seek employment.

This interview was conducted with a Cluster Resource Centre Coordinator (CRCC) in Purnea, Bihar in Hindi on 23 October 2020, and has been translated.

Also read this commentary piece by us: Why is Securing Newly-Enrolled Students in Bihar’s Government Schools a Challenge?