Experts urge govt to review data on out-of-school students in Maharashtra

A few days after the state education department released data revealing that 25,000 students in Maharashtra were found out of school during a survey conducted in the pandemic, educationists urged authorities to redo the survey later as the current figures as per them are grossly underreported

A few days after the state education department released data revealing that 25,000 students in Maharashtra were found out of school during a survey conducted in the pandemic, educationists urged authorities to redo the survey later as the current figures as per them are grossly underreported.

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Experts said the numbers need serious reconsideration and hence the survey is not trustworthy. “The number of cane cutters in the state is itself 150,000 and then there are workers in brick kilns, quarry workers, construction workers, etc. The number of students who have migrated, haven’t been into schools and who might have been put in child labour is likely to be way higher than what the government has found. It is imperative to get a more realistic picture if the government wishes to act on it,” said Heramb Kulkarni, a Pune-based educationist.

In 2015, the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government held an out-of-school survey to identify students who had never attended school or who were on the rolls but were not attending. The survey had identified around 50,000 such students. Multiple such surveys were conducted after that; the most recent one was conducted in March 2021 wherein only 25,000 students were found out of school while only 288 students were found engaged in child labour.

Experts said every year, the outcome of these surveys remain a mere formality. “The government needs to first come up with a realistic figure and then act. It is not enough to identify the problem, but it is crucial to be consistent and ensure that the found out-of-school students remain in schools over time,” said Ghanshyam Sonar, convenor of the All-India RTE forum.