School dropout rates surge in Surat's diamond hubs as jobless workers return to villages
In February, Jeetubhai Beladiya, a 37-year-old diamond worker in Surat left the city and returned to his home in Amreli district in Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Beladiya, a diamond polisher by profession decided to leave Surat, his home for nine years after being without a job for about seven months. “Nine years ago, I had come to Surat seeking employment and since then I have lived in...
In February, Jeetubhai Beladiya, a 37-year-old diamond worker in Surat left the city and returned to his home in Amreli district in Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
Beladiya, a diamond polisher by profession decided to leave Surat, his home for nine years after being without a job for about seven months.
“Nine years ago, I had come to Surat seeking employment and since then I have lived in the Varachha area. My family considered it as home after all these years,” Beladiya tells The Federal.
While homes can be found where families settle, the same doesn’t hold true for schools, especially if one moves to remote villages.
Beladiya’s children who attended the Prathamik Shala number 9 in Varachha had developed bonds of familiarity and friendship. So, when Beladiya took the tough decision to return to his native village for – Amreli, his son, who was in Class 5 and daughter in Class 8, had to leave the school mid-session in February.
Increasingly, as more jobless diamond workers, faced with despair, are going back to their villages, there has been a rise in dropouts in the municipal schools in Surat's diamond hub since January 2024.
Back in the villages, the children of these diamond workers are unable to find proper education due to lack of infrastructure and teachers.
Diamond polisher Jeetu Beladiya (in a white and blue checked shirt) hard at work
“It has been tough on them. My daughter Raghvi is more upset. She misses her friends and her life in Surat. Both my children were born in Surat and grew up there so it is difficult for them to adjust to any other place,” said Beladiya.
Beladiya used to work in a small diamond polishing unit in Varachha area of Surat, an area that is home to thousands of migrant diamond workers like him.
Also read: Surat diamond workers protest for pay hike and relief package
No schooling
His children have not joined school as yet in the village since the nearest school is about 12 kilometres away.
“The area is not safe since there are no roads. One has to pass through a forested area to reach Savarkundla town where the school is located. Besides, there is the threat of lions entering the village after dark,” explained Beladiya, a native of Nana Bhamodra village in Savarkundla taluka of Amreli.
A month after Beladiya left for his native village, his neighbour Dinesh Babariya, another diamond polisher in Varachha too decided to leave the city forever. Like Beladiya, Dinesh Babariya’s son who was studying in Class 9 had to drop out of school in the middle of an academic session.
Job cuts, two suicides
According to Babariya, there were 20 families living in his building in Varachha. All of them were diamond polishers and had lived there for years. But after Diwali in 2023, two of the men in the building died by suicide after being out of job for months.
“We faced a massive job and pay cut post-Diwali 2023. We usually have a Diwali holiday for 21 days but in 2023, the units opened after almost a month and a half. Added to which, half of us workers did not get back our jobs. The ones who got back their jobs joined at less than half their original salary,” he told The Federal.
“I’ve been working for a salary of Rs 250 a day instead of Rs 600 to Rs 700 a day that I used to get as a diamond polisher earlier. How do I sustain in Surat with this salary? My rent itself is Rs 6,000 while I have other expenses too,” shared Babariya.
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What precipitated Babriya's decision to leave Surat was a tragic suicide.
“The day Bakhyabhai (another diamond polisher) died by suicide, I made up my mind to leave this city and not sit around with false hope anymore. He was like an elder brother, friend and my co-worker for years. Every day, we would stand at the mandi (an area where workers gather to be hired by contractors) in Varachha or Katargam. His loss impacted me and my family deeply. I told my son we will leave Surat and he was heartbroken as he had to drop out of school,” said Babariya.
Babariya is a resident of Tulshishyam village located on the border of Amreli, Junagadh and Gir Somnath in the Gir forest region.
'Nothing here for me'
His 14-year-old son Jagdish had enrolled in the Prathamik Shala in Dhari village, 45 kilometres from his village but he quit within a month. Jagdish's school in Surat was around four kilometres from his home.
“In the village, I had to take a bus and travel for more than an hour to reach the school. On most days, there was no teacher in the school. So, I stayed home on those days to help my father in the field. I hope one day I can go back to Surat, there is nothing here for me," Jagdish said.
School dropouts increase
Notably, since January 2024, more than 2,000 students have dropped out of the schools run by the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) in areas like Varachha, Katargam and Punagam – the diamond hubs of Surat.
Also read: Surat Diamond Bourse: World’s largest office building now hosts just 8 firms
As per data maintained by the Surat Municipal School board, 817 students applied for school leaving certificates from 46 municipal schools located in Varachha area between December 2024 and May 2025. In Punagam area, more than 200 students dropped out mid-session from 30 schools between March and May, 2025, while 49 students had dropped out post-Diwali in December 2024.
Rajendra Kapadiya, the chairman of Surat Municipal School Board told The Federal that between November 2024 and May 2025, 2,356 students sought school leaving certificates from various schools in Surat.
“We have observed that the majority of these students are children of diamond workers. However, there might be other issues too. We have set up a team to identify the reasons,” Kapadiya pointed out.
“Out of the children who left school, around 200 are students of Classes 9 and 10, who are likely to lose an academic year since they dropped out mid-session,” added Kapadiya.
"This is the highest rate of dropouts I’ve seen in my career as a teacher," said a teacher at a SMC-run school in Katargam, Surat.
“My school had 400 students before the Diwali vacation. Eighty students had submitted a request for school leaving certificates the day the school reopened after the holidays. In the next few months, more students dropped out. Currently, we have a total of 236 students,” said the teacher.
No aid for workers
The Diamond Workers Association of Gujarat has written a letter to the Chief Minister in May this year, apprising him of the situation and requesting financial aid for the workers.
Also read: Recession fears: Surat diamond firm announces 10-day 'vacation'
Ramesh Zilriya, president of Diamond Workers Association of Gujarat, at a diamond cutting and polishing unit.
“We have written multiple letters to the government apprising them of the dire situation of the diamond workers in Surat. Last month, the government had announced a relief package for the diamond industry and it had provisions to bring relief to unit owners, but it had no no relief for the workers,” said Ramesh Zilriya, the president of Diamond Workers Association of Gujarat.
“Most of these workers come from Amreli, Bhavnagar, Rajkot and Junagadh districts of Saurashtra region. Due to the agrarian crisis, they have migrated to Surat – either they have a plot of uncultivable land in an arid region or their income from their small plot of land isn’t enough to feed their huge families,” he explained.
Some of these workers have been in Surat for generations, he added.
“In most families, the sons of diamond workers also join as a diamond polisher or cutter but only after they finish school. But now these children are forced to drop out of school. Living in Surat is expensive and workers haven’t had a full salary since 2023. They have no option but to leave,” pointed out Zilriya.
