NEW DELHI: School is still a distant dream for lakhs of children in the country. Despite efforts of successive governments, universal education remains out of reach. The latest national survey, supported by the Human Resources Development Ministry on out-of-school children, reveals that 60.41 lakh children in the age group of 6-13 years are still out of classrooms.
Even after the implementation of the Sarva Shiskha Abhiyan (SSA) to provide elementary education, out of 20.41 crore children in the age group of 6-13 years, an estimated 60.41 lakh (2.97 per cent) do not go to school. However, the percentage of out of school children in 2014 is estimated to be lower than in 2009 (4.28 per cent) and 2006 (6.94 per cent).
Interestingly, there are more children out of school in urban India than in 2009. The survey revealed that in the age group of 6-13 years, an estimated 46.95 lakh children are out of school in rural India and an estimated 13.69 lakh children are out of school in urban India. In 2009, the urban India figure was 11.26 lakh. The highest proportion of out of school children within 6-13 years is estimated in the East zone (4.02 per cent) and the lowest in South zone (0.97 percent). Odisha has the highest proportion with 6.10 per cent.
At the national level, a higher proportion of females (3.23 per cent) are out of school than males (2.77 per cent). Also, more children from rural areas (3.13 per cent) are out of school than from urban areas (2.54 per cent).
An estimated 1.12 crore children from urban India live in slum areas. This is 36.01 per cent of the total urban population. Out of the children living in slums, 2.14 per cent are out of school. This is lower than the previous round, where 3.74 per cent of the slum population were out of school.
This round’s findings show that an estimated 28.07 per cent children with special needs are out of school. This stood at 34.12 per cent in the last round.
The study also reveals that a higher proportion of ST children are out of school than any other social category. In this round, 4.36 per cent ST children are estimated to be out of school. This is lower than the last round where 5.60 per cent ST children were out of school.
Maximum children who are out of school have never been enrolled in any school recognised under RTE. This is closely followed by those who have dropped out after successfully completing some class. This study reveals than the maximum dropouts in this age group are after class 2. Number of out of school children in the age group of 6-13 who never enrolled in schools is 2698377.
According to the survey, a higher proportion of girls are out of school because of the reason ‘needed to help in domestic work or needed to take care of children’ as compared to boys. A marginally higher proportion of boys are also out of school than girls for the reason ‘child to supplement household income’.
As per the survey, out of the total estimated Muslim children in the country, 4.43 per cent are out of school. This proportion is lower than the last round where 7.67 per cent Muslims children were estimated to be out of school.
The survey was commissioned by Educational Consultants India Limited with support from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and SRI – IMRB International was entrusted with the responsibility of conducting this survey.