Workshop held at Nowgong College (Autonomous)

Staff reporter, Nagaon, February 27: Dissemination workshop on 'reducing girls school drop out: a case study in select areas of Assam' based on the findings of the short-term empirical project, was organized by the Department of Economics, Nowgong College (Autonomous) here. This project work is being carried out by Prof Ratul Mahanta, HoD, Department of Economics, Gauhati University, Prof Daisy Das, Department of Economics, Cotton University, Dr Nurzamal Hoque, Department of Economics, Kokrajhar Govt. College and Dr Dimpal Dekaraja, Assistant Professor, Dept of Economics , Nowgong College (Autonomous) under the Scheme Beti Bachao, Beti Paraho. The project was funded by Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi. The proceedings of the workshop was anchored by Dr Mrinal Saikia, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Dr Prasanta Khanikar , Associate Professor , Department of Education graced the workshop as invited speaker. Dr Khanikar opined that stagnation, parents' marginal income , difficulty in travelling and illiteracy of parents can be considered the main reasons for girls' drop out. The findings of the project were elaborated by Dr Dimpal Dekaraja, Assistant professor, Department of Economics. The findings of the study revealed that girls' dropout is reducing in the state after the implementation of the scheme 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' mentioned by Dr Dekaraja in his speech. However, the study recommended that more awareness camps should be organized to increase the community involvement in the rural areas and to educate the community and the parents, so that the drop-out can be removed permanently. Primary data for this project has been collected mainly from Nagaon, Karbi-Anglong and Nalbari disctrict. Dr Pulin Chandra Borah, Vice Principal, Dr Bhuban Chandra Chutia , co-ordinator, IQAC, Dr Nabaprasad Nath, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Mridupaban Chintey, Dr Tiken Das and Dr Nitumoni Bora, Department of Economics, Dr Purboshri Borpuzari, Department of Sanskrit and over 50 research scholars were participated in the workshop. During the workshop, the participants interacted with the project director Dr Dimpal Dekaraja and appreciated the work conducted by the research team. The workshop came to an end with a vote of thanks offered by Dr Mrinal Saikia stated in a press release here.