Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) will start special classes for out-of-school students in December in a bid to prepare them for regular classes at schools and help them cope with academic pressure, officials said on Sunday.

The JEPC has addressed letters to the concerned education officials in all the 24 districts, directing them to make arrangements for these classes and ensure availability of teachers for the students who attend them.

“Out-of-school students have already been mapped, and all the districts have been asked to make necessary arrangements for the special classes, which will be called Setu Guide,” said JEPC Program Director Binita Tirkey.

As per data compiled by JEPC, there are about 6 lakh out-of-school students in Jharkhand and close to 2 lakh of them require extra tuitions in order to resume regular classes at schools. These special classes, Tirkey said, will be held after school hours and on weekends in order to ensure attendance.

These classes, Tirkey said, will be held at school campuses itself, and not more than 30 students will be enrolled for each class. The districts have been asked to rope-in retired government school teachers for taking these classes. The teachers, JEPC officials said, would be paid Rs.500 per month for each student they teach as a part of this campaign.

As per government data, there are over 42 lakh students studying in classes 1 to 12 in about 35,000 government schools across the state. The special classes, however, will only be conducted for students of class 1 to 8 as of now, officials said.

Many students also dropped out of school during the Covid-19 pandemic, and bringing them back to school was one of the priorities of the JEPC. The special classes for out-of-school students will also help JEPC achieve its target of bringing “Covid drop-outs” back to school. 

“Even private school students can attend these classes. The classes will help dropout students from class 1 to class 8 regain confidence and knowledge, which will help them resume studies,” said Tirkey, who has been coordinating this project.

According to a letter to the districts from JEPC, rooms in school campuses or close to the schools can be used for these classes. Only students staying close to a particular school will be enlisted for the classes conducted there, officials added.

“The next session is likely to begin in four months. Hopefully, the students who attend special classes will be able to attend regular classes at schools by then,” said Tirkey.