The responses of the parents as to why their children were working can also be tracked by the Collector. “To get their children back, we have helped clear loans, arranged for medical treatments, supplied milch animals, vendor carts and house pattas and loans and even built houses under the Indira Gandhi ,” said Babu.

Success stories

•Undiyalnatham, a hamlet in Krishnagiri, had foxed the administration. Twenty-three of its children remained missing for a good part of the year. But they mysteriously appeared every year to participate in the local Keeramman temple festival in the village. When the Veppanapalli Panchayat made enquiries, it found that the children, belonging to the Irular tribe and hailing from the village, worked as ‘watchmen’ in Andhra Pradesh. In fact, this is their livelihood for generations. The 23 children have now been enrolled into a primary school. They are the first generation of the tribe getting formal education.

•Children in Ekalnatham, about 25 kms from Krishnagiri, are not so lucky. There was a high drop-out rate in the only primary school here.The teacher, a woman, chose to trek up the 5-km hillock on which the village was perched just once or twice a week. She was sacked and a male teacher appointed in her place. But new teacher too has put in irregular attendance, said P Ganesha Murthy, the UNICEF consultant.

•In Bettapalli, about 85 kms from Krishnagiri, women in the village have never gone to school. Instead, they roll out beedis for a living. The elders in the Muslim populated village refuse to send their girls to the school where men teach and where there is no Urdu medium.