From over 24k out-of-school children, about 18.5k have been tracked: Karnataka gov't informs High Court

The Karnataka High Court was informed on August 11, Thursday, that 18,584 children (including 11,710 dropouts and 6,874 who never enrolled) were tracked among 24,308 Out of School Children (OSC) (14,963 dropouts and 9,345 who never enrolled) in the age group of 6-14 years. In all, 5,724 children (3,253 dropouts and 2,471 who never enrolled) are yet to be tracked, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.

Before the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty, the status report regarding proceedings of the State Inter Departmental High Power Committee meeting and steps taken was placed by amicus curiae KN Phanindra.

He also stated that out of 18,584 children who have been tracked, 14,871 children (9,715 dropouts and 5,156 never enrolled) have already been admitted to school, and the remaining 3,713 children (1,995 dropouts and 1,718 who never enrolled) are yet to be admitted.

It was the request of the amicus curiae to the court that directions be issued to Samagra Shikshana Karnataka and School Education and Literacy departments to keep identifying OSC in the 6-14 age group and to make sure that these children are brought back into the mainstream of education within a stipulated time-frame, and submit the progress in admission.

He also prayed before the court to issue directions to the Women and Child Welfare, Social Welfare and Minority Welfare departments to identify and enroll children in the age group of 3-6 years, as pointed out in the household door-to-door survey report submitted to the court, and furnish a status report about progress in enrolment.

The court granted the Government of Karnataka 12 weeks to submit a further status report, the court, which has been monitoring OSC since 2013, directed the state government to ensure that the remaining 3,713 are admitted to school and 5,724 children are tracked. It also sought a response from the state government regarding the enrollment of children to Anganawadis.

State survey stats

10.12 lakh OSC and anganwadi children

0-3 age group: 4,54,238

4-6 age group: 5,33,205

6-14 age group: 15,338 Out of School kids, 10,018 never enrolled

Of 17,70,081 children in 0-18 age category

* 2,73,936 (0-3 years) and 3,02,088 children (4-6 years) never enrolled in anganwadis.

* Of 11,83,929 children in 6-14 age group who enrolled in schools, 2,162 dropped out, 1,545 never enrolled