GUNTUR: According to a survey conducted by the education department, as many as 11,968 children below the age of 18 have been identified to be out of school. Of the total, 5,223 are below 14 years of age.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, over 650 cluster resource persons and part-time instructors conducted door-to-door survey in the month of April. According to the department, most of such children were extending help to their parents in agriculture.
While conducting the survey, the volunteers also counselled the parents of school dropouts on the importance of education and encouraged them to send their kids to school. As a result, close to 8,631 students were admitted to schools this year.
Of the total, 3,495 children sought admissions to seasonal hostels, 1,524 to non-residential schools, 1,683 to madrassas, and 77 to residential schools. They were given admission to institutions of their preference based on vacancies and transport facilities.
Joint Collector Rajakumari said, as many as 3,337 children have been identified, who are still not attending schools even after the survey was completed. She stated that a resurvey should to conducted in order to bring these children back to the classrooms.
She urged officials of line department and AP Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to conduct awareness on the various schemes being implemented by the State government and make sure all the children were given admissions in schools in order to achieve the target of 100 per cent literacy rate in the district.
Rajakumari added that special attention should be paid to students who are irregular to school and that reasons for the same should be enquired and rectified.