E-Paper
1.17 million children identified as ‘Out of School’, govt tells LS
Around 1.17 million children across India have been identified as those not enrolled in primary, secondary and senior secondary education, or Out of School Children (OoSC), for the year 2024-25
Around 1.17 million children across India have been identified as those not enrolled in primary, secondary and senior secondary education, or Out of School Children (OoSC), for the year 2024-25, the Union government informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.
In a written response to a query from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) lawmaker Sribharat Mathukumilli, who sought state-wise data on students not enrolled in schools, Union minister of state for education Jayant Chaudhary said that Uttar Pradesh accounted for the maximum 784,228 OoSC, of the total 1,170,404 children who remain out of school.
Uttar Pradesh was followed by Jharkhand and Assam, which reported 65,070 and 63,848 OoSC, respectively, for 2024-25, according to data provided by the minister.
The Centre describes an OoSC as a child aged six to 14 years, who has never been enrolled in an elementary school or has remained absent from school after enrolment without prior intimation for 45 days. OoSC, therefore, include both never enrolled in schools and the dropouts.
While no child has been reported out of school in the Union territories of Ladakh and Lakshadweep, there were two OoSC in Andaman and Nicobar while four in Puducherry. Among the states, Sikkim with 74 had the minimum out of school children, the government data suggests.
In its reply to a similar question in Parliament last year, the ministry data showed a total of 1,253,019 children across the country who were out of school in 2022-23.
According to the UDISE+ portal, maintained by the education ministry, 265,235,830 children were enrolled in schools in 2021-22, of which, 127,335,252 were girls and 137,900,578 boys.
