BENGALURU: Union Minister for Human Resource Development (MHRD) Prakash Javadekar’s statement in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that Karnataka has over 1.22 lakh out-of-school children has baffled education officials here.
The minister had told the lower House that according to a survey conducted by the International Marketing Research Bureau (IMRB) in 2014, Karnataka reported 1,22,139 out-of-school children.
However, state Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) officials claimed that contrary to what the minister said, the number of out-of-school children in the state was just 9,000.
“We have no idea about the source of the data used by the minister, but we heard that it was an IMRB survey report he referred to,” a SSA official said.