Surat Schools

The diamond  city has not only worn off spark on the face of Diamond workers but also school classes. If you enter inside schools of Katargam, Varachha, Kapodra or Ved Roa you can easily see heavy dropout in schools.    Primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in the diamond belt of Varachha, Katargam and Kapodara have witnessed a high dropout rate-up to 20 percent in the last one month.
Question arises why there is such a heavy dropout in schools recently. Diamond is the main business in the city. After Deewali diamond units are still closed. Starting from US economic slowdown  has affected diamond business badly. 
  Experts  in this field say schools have  registered  around 50,000 cases of dropout in  the last month only. After schools reopened in the second week of November, most students, whose parents work in the diamond industry, have not attended the schools.
   There are around 200 granted and non-granted primary and higher secondary schools in the diamond belt, imparting education to around 1.5 lakh children.
    Sunflower School in Kapodara had 800 students. Post Diwali vacation, around 200 students have either not turned up or are planning to move back to their hometowns in Saurashtra or seek a transfer to less-expensive municipal schools.
Tapashvi Dave, secretary, Surat School Management Association (SSMA), said, "The dropout rate, especially in schools in Varachha, Kapodara and Katargam, is alarming. It's a ripple effect of the global economic crisis faced by the diamond trade. Parents, mostly diamond workers, are not in a position to afford education of their children and thus they are moving back to their hometowns."
   Dave said around 15 to 20 percent in the schools have deposited fees for the second semester while the rest of the parents are yet to do so. Many diamond workers are unable to pay the fee of their children because of uncertainty of their jobs and the extended vacation in the attendance units.
  Jagdish Chavda, trustee of Gyanyog High School in Kapodara, said, "Around two to three lakh diamond workers are jobless for the last two months. Around 40 percent units have not begun work after Diwali break. This is reflecting in the attendance in schools."
  The situation is similar in municipal schools run by Surat Municipal Corporation's Nagar Parthamik Shikashan Samiti.

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