Over 1.3 lakh children not going to school in Karnataka: Survey

BENGALURU: As many as 1,26,245 children (3 to 6 years) living in rural areas and 8,718 kids (6 to 18 years) in urban localities are not attending school, the high court was informed.
Senior advocate KN Phanindra, who is assisting the high court as amicus curiae in a suo motu PIL on the issue, said 91% of households in rural areas and 79% in urban local bodies (ULBs) have been covered under the door-to-door survey till June 2021. This apart, 9,716 children in rural areas and 4,842 in ULBs have never enrolled in school.
The exercise for identifying out-of-school children is stipulated under rule 6 (1) of the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012.
The amicus curiae said so far, 80,59,221 of 88,55,659 families in rural areas have been covered and 32,14,257 out of 34,55,656 children were found to be going to school. In the ULBs, 25,65,309 out of 32,43,590 families (based on properties) have been covered and 9,25,820 children in the age group of 6 to 18 attend classes.
Non-starter in BBMP areas
Phanindra told the court that the survey has not commenced in BBMP areas and recommended issuing directions for conducting it on a day-to-day basis and completing it in three months.
He said the BBMP chief commissioner had issued directions to conduct household survey of children (6 to 14 years). The principal secretary, department of primary and secondary education, had informed that he would coordinate with the additional chief secretary of urban development department (UDD) to issue instructions to BBMP to survey children from the age of their birth till 18 years.
A division bench headed by chief justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka directed the secretary, UDD, to issue directions for conducting the survey on par with the one being done by the rural development and panchayat raj department wherein data of children aged 0-18 is being collected.
The matter will be heard again on August 24.