Has Free Bicycle Scheme Helped Improve Admission to School – A Study of Mysore District

Abstract

The present study attempts to assess the impact of the Free Bicycle Scheme in improving admissions in schools. A total of 500-800 respondents (students, parents, teachers, and officials in the education department) were chosen to complete different sets of questionnaires prepared for the purpose by the author himself in consultation with Block Education Officers (BEO’s) from different taluks of the Mysore district. Based on their responses, analysis has been made with regard to the improvement in admissions and reduction in the dropout rate. The study obtained views from teachers, students, parents, and BEO’s. However, in this article, only the teachers’ view about improvement in admissions is considered. The results revealed that about 91% of them agreed that the scheme has helped improve admissions to the school, 90% agreed that the scheme has an impact on admissions to 8th class and about 78.9% believed that this scheme has an impact on reducing the number of students leaving school halfway’.