The Early Warning System (EWS) established by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), in collaboration with the Directorate of Education, Delhi Government, represents a significant shift towards proactive governance in education and child welfare. This comprehensive overview outlines the history, necessity, development, and impact of the EWS, highlighting key milestones and the pivotal role played by Anurag Kundu, the chairperson of DCPCR at the time of the EWS's inception.

Historical Context and Necessity

Before the introduction of the EWS, there was a growing concern regarding the high rates of absenteeism in schools, particularly among students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Chronic absenteeism was identified not merely as a symptom of disinterest in education but as a potential indicator of underlying vulnerabilities such as socio-economic challenges, health issues, or other critical factors like child labor, bullying, and child marriage. These issues not only threatened the well-being and safety of children but also posed significant barriers to their education and future prospects.

The Early Warning System is designed to monitor and improve student attendance across all of Delhi's Directorate of Education (DoE) schools, impacting nearly 18 lakh students.

During 2022-2023, nearly 5 lakh students were frequently absent. The Early Warning System is based on the understanding that a low school attendance of a child is not a consequence of theirs or their caregiver's active choice, but is a ramification of circumstances which has forced the child out of school.

Internal Monitoring Indicators showing monthly tracking data

System Design and Implementation

The EWS uses school's attendance data to identify long absentee students who may be at high-risk of dropping out of school. Long absenteeism, i.e. uninformed absence of 7 consecutive days or for more than 66.67% days in a month (i.e. 20/30 days), is the earliest indicator that the student is facing a risk that the family is not able to overcome.

Calendar view showing student attendance patterns with color-coded status indicators

During 2023, amongst the long absentee students, 54% were male, 45% were female and 1% were others. Out of these, 13-18 years were the most common age groups of long absentee students followed by 7-12 years.

Impact and Effectiveness

By April 2022, the EWS was fully operational across all 1,046 Delhi government schools, encompassing nearly 19 lakh students. The system's effectiveness became evident through its significant outreach, supporting over 73,000 students with chronic absenteeism and facilitating the return of more than 33,000 students to their educational pursuits.

Back to School Indicators showing attendance patterns

Back to School Status Cohort showing monthly tracking data

Intervention Strategies

The EWS employed a multi-faceted approach to address absenteeism. Interventions ranged from sending SMS nudges to parents, providing counseling sessions on the importance of regular school attendance, to addressing more severe cases of vulnerability through DCPCR's grievance management teams. These cases included instances of abuse, trafficking, child labor, and medical emergencies, with a system in place to ensure SOS cases were attended within 24 hours.

Analysis of reasons for student absence and call status metrics

Case Management System

A robust case management system was developed to track individual student cases, allowing for personalized interventions and follow-ups. Each case is assigned a unique identifier and tracked through various stages from detection to resolution.

Custom CRM Interface

Case management interface showing student records

Monitoring and Analytics

The EWS dashboard provides comprehensive analytics and monitoring capabilities, allowing administrators to track key metrics such as:

• Average time for students to return to school (BTS)
• Total cases detected and resolved
• Gender-wise distribution of absentee students
• District-wise performance analysis
• Intervention effectiveness metrics

Comprehensive Analytics Dashboard

Visualizing key performance metrics for decision makers

EWS Dashboard Overview showing key performance metrics

Conclusion and Future Directions

The Early Warning System represents a paradigm shift in how educational institutions approach student absenteeism and dropout prevention. By leveraging data analytics and a proactive intervention approach, the system has demonstrated significant success in bringing students back to school and addressing underlying issues that contribute to absenteeism.

Future enhancements to the system may include:

• Integration with additional data sources for more comprehensive student profiling
• Advanced predictive analytics to identify at-risk students before absenteeism occurs
• Expanded intervention strategies tailored to specific causes of absenteeism
• Mobile applications for field workers to streamline the intervention process

The success of the EWS in Delhi provides a valuable model that can be adapted and implemented in other educational systems facing similar challenges, potentially transforming how we approach student retention and educational equity on a broader scale.