BANGALORE: Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar on Friday said that despite spending huge funds to prevent children from dropping out from schools, as many as 1,68,621 discontinued their studies in 2014.
Replying to M Srinivas (JD-S) in the Council, the minister said the department has chalked out an action plan to readmit such children.
Stating that the process of rehabilitating the dropouts is also being monitored by the Karnataka High Court, the minister said the court had commended the government’s efforts in the matter.
Outlining the measures taken to attract the dropouts back to schools, he said a fortnight-long admission campaign has been launched across the state, involving parents, NGOs and representatives of panchayats and others. He said the children will be distributed note books, uniforms and other related materials on the days of admission itself. He said a majority of the dropouts in 2014 (1,68,621) were from the Hyderabad-Karnataka region comprising Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadagir, Bellary, Koppal and Raichur districts. He said that according to the survey, 35 per cent of the total number of children dropping out belong to Scheduled Caste and Tribe and another 28.3 per cent to minority communities.
A majority of the children quit school because they had to support their families economically or their families migrated.