E-classes on, but scores of students fall off the grid in Telangana as pandemic takes toll

HYDERABAD: Forty days after digital classes began in government schools across Telangana, teachers say they are unable to trace scores of students, who have either gone back to their hometowns or dropped out of school, due to financial hardships faced by their parents during the pandemic.
Education department sources and teachers TOI spoke with Independently, said of the 16,43,309 students in some 26,000 state-run schools in classes 3 to 10, at least 10% of them are still untraceable and there is no communication between the schools and these students.
"We think some 1.60 lakh students have dropped out of school and we are not quite sure whether or not these students will attend schools as they did in the last academic year as many of their parents could have lost their livelihood in the past eight months," said a senior official.
In one of the government schools in Borabanda, about 112 students are still untraceable, as the numbers given in record books are not reachable or invalid numbers. Likewise, in Government high school, Lalaguda, at least 30 students are untraceable.
In Kachiguda, at least 60 students from four schools are untraceable as many of them moved back to their villages in Wanaparthy, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, among other areas.
Similarly, in Government High School, Subji Mandi II, seven students are said to be untraceable. "We don't know anything about these students. Unless they report back to schools, there is no way we can communicate with them," said a teacher of Government high school, Subji Mandi II.