BENGALURU: As per the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012, local bodies are required to maintain an education register of out-of-school children and as a responsibility, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike will take up a survey on the same from February. To oversee the survey, Joint Commissioners of all the eight zones of the Palike have been appointed as Nodal Officers said, Special Commissioner of BBMP Education Department Preeti Gehlot.
The special commissioner also mentioned that Article 21A of the Indian Constitution guarantees the right to education as a fundamental right for children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. As per the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012, local bodies are required to maintain an education register of out-of-school children.
“To bring out-of-school children into the mainstream, and with the High Court currently hearing cases involving out-of-school and non-enrolled children, it is necessary to determine the precise number of these children under the BBMP by the court’s directives,” said Gehlot and added that the said survey has to be conducted by the Centre for e-Governance Department through the mobile app ‘Karnataka H2H Children Survey App’ available on the Karnataka Government App Store.
“Beginning on February 24, every home within the BBMP limit should be surveyed from door-to-door in each of the BBMP’s eight zones. In this regard, the public is asked to cooperate, as around ten enumerators have been appointed to each ward. These enumerators will visit each home and do a survey,” added Gehlot.
Initiative to improve student safety
With a national average of 30 student deaths daily due to accessibility issues, BBMP launched the ‘Safe Access To School’ initiative on Friday, as part of a larger goal of the ‘Namma Raste-2025’ initiative. “When we speak about mobility in the city, we leave out students.
This time we have discussed with engineers the need to provide safe access to schools, parks and playgrounds which are run by BBMP, so that students are taken into consideration,” said Gehlot. “We must ensure that at least 50 metres outside schools are safe. Seating areas for students to rest are also part of our plan and by next year we will be able to come up with much safer and more accessible school areas,” he said.