Teachers were asked to submit students’ list in March last year but banks didn’t come to schools till a few months ago

It was a move meant to encourage more girl children to go to school by giving them a rupee for every day they attend. But plagued by delays and red-tape, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) initiative has met with little success.

On the eve of the International Day for The Girl Child, it appears that the scheme — launched in June last year and inspired by similar initiatives in other states — is still to act as an adequate incentive to raising the numbers of girl children at school; they usually stay at home or do odd-jobs for the family.

There are 2,16,571 girl students in civic schools around the city, each of whom has a stake in the initiative. While the drop-out rate for students between grades I and V is 5 per cent, the figure for students between the Vth and VIIth grades is 8 per cent. However, the money for the first academic year (2007-2008) is only being disbursed now, after a series of delays.

“In March last year, all teachers were asked to submit a list of students but the people from the bank didn’t come till a few months ago,” said a teacher with a BMC school, who did not wish to be named. The bank, however, says that since this is the first time that such an initiative has been taken, it will take them a while to iron out some of the finer points.

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