Lok Sabha Question No. 1133 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-26
Subject: Out of School students
Ministry: Education
Asked by: K. Muraleedharan, Kalyan Banerjee, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, D.K. Suresh, Faizal P.P. Mohammed, Mohammad Jawed, Amar Singh, A. Chellakumar, Kumbakudi Sudhakaran, T.N. Prathapan, Vincent H Pala

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1133 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2021

## Out of School students

1133. SHRI K. MURALEEDHARAN:

SHRI KALYAN BANERJEE:

SHRIMATI RITA BAHUGUNA JOSHI:

SHRI D.K.SURESH:

SHRI MOHAMMED FAIZAL P.P.:

DR. MOHAMMAD JAWED:

DR. AMAR SINGH:

DR. A. CHALLAKUMAR:

SHRI KUMBAKUDI SUDHAKARAN:

SHRI T.N. PRATHAPAN:

SHRI VINCENT H. PALA:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  cognisance  of  the  recent  increase  in  out-ofschool children to 5.5 per cent (from 4 per cent in 2018) as per the Annual Status of Education Report(ASIR);
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  including reasons for the same and measures to address increasing dropouts;
- (c) whether the Government has assessed the gap between the demand and availability of  adequate  digital  infrastructure  for  students  in  rural  areas  and  from  economically weaker sections;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (e) the number of rural schools that have been equipped with digital infrastructure (such as computers, internet access, etc.) from March 2020 till date?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a)  &  (b):  The  Annual  Status  of  Education Report  is  released  by  a  non-governmental organization. Ministry of Education is not associated with the survey.

(c)  &  (d):  During  the  pandemic,  the  Ministry  of  Education has taken various steps for providing children continued access to education, which are available to each category of students irrespective of their region or economic standard. A comprehensive initiative called PM  e-Vidya  has  been  started  which  aims  to  unify  all  efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes  all  forms  of  digital  modes  to  provide  remote  access  DIKSHA  (online), SWAYAM  (online),  SWAYAM  PRABHA  (TV),  other  TV  Channels  including  use  of Doordarshan and Air Networks. Further, Pragyata guidelines were issued to States/UTs to  facilitate  continued  education  through  various  modes.  The  guidelines  provide  all forms  of  digital  modes  to  provide  remote  access,  inter-alia,  include  situation  where internet connectivity is not available or available with very less bandwidth, resources are shared  through  various  platforms  like  television,  radio  etc  that  do  not  depend  on internet. An alternate Academic Calendar has been prepared for learning solutions for grade 1 to 12 for both children with and without device. Besides these, community radio, worksheets  &  textbooks  supplied  to  residence  of  learners,  home  visits  by  teachers, community classes, toll free numbers, SMS based requests for audio content, localised radio content for edutainment etc have been used. The steps taken by all the states are shown  in  the  -  India  Report  Digital  Education  June  2020,  which  is  available  at  the following link:

https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/India\_Report\_Digital\_Education\_0.p df.

(e): As per Unified District  Information  System  for  Education  2019-20  (provisional), 53725, 22804, 39693 and 99116 government schools in rural areas have been provided with ICT facilities, digital board, PCs integrated teaching learning devices and internet facilities respectively.

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