BHUBANESWAR: It seems Odisha Government’s programmes to educate the girl child have failed to serve the purpose as a whopping 55,868 girls aged between 11 and 14 years are still not enrolled in a school.The statistics of Women and Child Development (W&CD) department reveal that most of these out-of-school girls are from tribal-dominated districts of Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Kalahandi and Rayagada.
According to the data available with the department, 10,599 girls in the age group of 11-14 years are not enrolled in any school in Koraput. In Nabarangpur, 8,899 such girls are out of school while the number is 7,132 in Kalahandi. Similarly, the number of such girls is 5,585 in Malkangiri, 5,320 in Rayagada, 4,296 girls in Ganjam and 2,,636 in Keonjhar.Bhadrak is the only district where 100 per cent enrolment of girls in schools has been been achieved. In Mayurbhanj, only six girls are out of school, the statistics revealed.
Raising concern over the alarming figures, authorities of W&CD department urged their School and Mass Education (S&ME) counterparts to take necessary measures to ensure enrolment of girls in schools. However, S&ME department rejected the statistics of the W&CD authorities. School and Mass Education Minister Badrinarayan Patra said the source of these statistics needs to be verified as the data available with his department suggests that the number of out-of-school girls in the State is around 1,500. On the other hand, the poor enrolment of girls in schools has raised questions on the State Government’s efforts to promote girls’ education through its various schemes.