Expressing concern over the inaccuracy of a survey on out-of-school children, the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) has ordered a resurvey in two districts.
Fr. Antony Sebastian, chairperson of the commission, said they had urged officials of the Department of Public Instruction and Labour Department to conduct the resurvey in Chikkamagaluru and Raichur.
“We have observed that the number of children who are either dropouts or have never enrolled in school are high in these districts,” he said. KSCPCR had observed that in Chikkamagaluru district, a large number of families had migrated from several parts of North India to work in the coffee plantation and the children of these families were not admitted in school.
Before the commencement of this academic year, the department found that 16,853 children between the ages six and 14 were out of school. Of this, 31.1% were children of migrant labourers. The largest number of out-of-school children has been identified in Bengaluru.
To tackle the issue of children who belong to families who have migrated, the department had asked teachers to visit slums and bus stands during the night, twice a month, in order to bring them to the mainstream.
This academic year, notices were issued to 8,627 parents whose children have been absent from schools for seven consecutive days without prior permission. In this list, it was reported that there were zero absentees from Raichur district and therefore the commission has ordered a resurvey in Raichur.
Officials of the Department of Public Instruction did not comment on whether a resurvey would be conducted, but acknowledged that there was a need for the reporting mechanism to be more robust.
