E-Paper
Out of 16.2 lakh out-of-school girls across India, 56,936 are from Maharashtra: Report
Uttar Pradesh tops the list with more than 5,00,000 girls who do not attend schools.
There are 16.2 lakh girls in the country, in the 11 to 14 age group, who do not attend schools, revealed the statistics shared by Union ministry of women and child development.
The data also revealed that Maharashtra ranks seventh in the list of states with maximum girls (56,936) not attending schools. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar top the list (about 5,00,000 girls) followed by Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (more than 1,00,000).
“The government has realised the multi-dimensional needs of out-of-school adolescent girls and is implementing various schemes that support nutritional and non-nutritional needs of the children,” said a statement by the ministry.
Under one of the schemes, a nutritional support of Rs9.50 per day is provided to the beneficiaries for 300 days. The scheme also aims at motivating out-of-school girls to return to schools for schooling or skill training under the non-nutrition component of the scheme.
By December 2017, various states, including MP, UP, Gujarat and Odisha, had provided funds to increase the nutritional benefits for girls. As per information from the ministry, Maharashtra has not invested much in these schemes.
“We have reduced girl dropout rate by 5.6% in the past three years and this is impossible without any investment from state government,” said state education minister Vinod Tawde.
He added instead of focusing on providing nutritional meals for girls, Maharashtra has also been focusing on non-nutritional aspects.
“More focus has been given to building hostels for girls in the state and ensure better transport facilities for girl students in rural Maharashtra,” Tawde added.
In the past three years, the state government has conducted a series of survey to ascertain the number of out-of-school children. But did little to bring the children back to the schools and enrol them under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
“It’s a work in progress, and the state government will have better numbers to show in the upcoming year as more is being done to encourage students to complete their schooling,” Tawde said.
States with the highest out-of-school girls
State-------------------------------Out of school adolescent girls (age 11-14 years)
Uttar Pradesh--------------------------4,96,000 (approximately)
Bihar------------------------------------4,92,609
Gujarat----------------------------------1,32,729
Madhya Pradesh-----------------------1,25,452
Assam-----------------------------------74,727
Jharkhand-------------------------------58,568
Maharashtra----------------------------56,936
Odisha-----------------------------------56,893
Karnataka-------------------------------48,971
Jammu & Kashmir--------------------15,598
Total (India)----------------------------16,28,584
*Source: Union Ministry of Women and Child Development
