Dispute over the number of children out of school, education activists call state report ‘fake’.
The state government has vowed to admit 377 street children in Mumbai to schools, as a survey done last year indicated that these children did not go to schools. As per Right to Education Act (RTE), children between 6 to 14 years should get the opportunity to education, but the state failed to implement it last year.
In Mumbai, 651 street children have no access to school out of which 377 belong to the age group entitled to education according the Act, albeit, the education activists have slammed the number and said it was underreported.
“After our findings from last year, we have vowed to bring all these children to schools. Not a single child in the city will be out of school this year,” said principal secretary Nand Kumar.
The state had carried the survey last year to count out-of-school children across Maharashtra. The findings revealed that 74,000 children are out of school in the state, out of which 377 in from Mumbai.
The secretary said that he is personally visiting the districts to ensure that all the out-of-school children get admitted in schools.
“We have told our officials also to ensure that no children remain out of school especially girls. The chief secretary has also instructed that every officer should visit district schools and bring feed back for improvement of the education system. We have already started receiving the feedbacks from a few districts,” said Mr Kumar
However, education activists have termed the state efforts ‘fake’, claiming the actual numbers much higher. Shyam Sonar from Forum Against Commercialisation of Education said that the government has not ascertained exact number of out-of-school children.
“An RTI information indicates 6,240 children as out of school in Mumbai. Another government organisation has shown 2,595 children out of school in the city and a survey conducted by the Maharashtra government showed over 18,000,” said Mr Sonar. He further added, “This is ridiculous that Mr Kumar is now saying only 377 children are out of school now. The state should first come to a conclusion on how many kids are actually out of school in Mumbai and then vow to admit them in schools.”
