Lok Sabha Question No. 2366 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-13
Subject: Migration of Students due to CORONA
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Mohammad Jawed

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2366 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2021

## Migration of Students due to CORONA

2366. DR. MOHAMMAD JAWED:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the total number of children who returned to their native States during the pandemic and breakup of source and destination States;
- (b) if not, the reasons for the unavailability of data;
- (c)  the  estimated  number  of  children  who  have  since  re-migrated  post  lifting  of  the lockdown;
- (d)  the  steps  taken  to  prevent  dropout  and  facilitate  uninterrupted  education  of  these students; and
- (e) the steps taken to ensure children received instruction in the same language in both host and destination States?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SMT. ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a)  to  (e):  Education  is  in  the  Concurrent  List  of  the  Constitution  and  majority  of  the schools come under the purview of the respective State and UT Governments. In order to  mitigate  the  impact  of  challenges  thrown  by  the  COVID-19  pandemic  for  migrant children  and  for  preventing  drop  outs,  lower  enrolments  and  loss  of  learning,  this department  has  issued  guidelines  for  identification,  smooth  admission  process  and continued education of migrant children on 13.07.2020, inter-alia, requesting the States to  identify  and  enroll  all  children  without  any  procedural  formalities  and  maintain  a database of children so admitted. Further, students of residential school should also be provided temporary admission in schools nearby their homes, as they may not go back to their residential schools during COVID19.

Also, to ensure that children have access to education with quality  and equity and to minimize the impact of the pandemic on school education in the country, Ministry of  Education  has  shared  guidelines  dated  7 th   January,  2021  with  all  States    which, among  others,  include  identification  of  out  of  school  children  from  age  6-18  years, enrolment drives and awareness generation, student support while schools are closed, continued  Education  for  children  with  Special  Needs  (CWSN),  student  support  on school reopening and Teacher capacity building. Besides,  a comprehensive Covid  action  plan   has  been  shared  with  the  States and UTs on 4 th  May 2021,  outlining the role of local bodies, formation of nodal group at village/town level, conducting door-to-door/helpdesk-based/app based survey to identify out of school children, their mainstreaming and resource sharing. This Department has also developed an online module for compiling the data of Out  of  School  Children  (OoSC)  identified  by  each  State/UT  and  their  mapping  with Special  Training  Centres  (STC)  on  the  PRABANDH  Portal  (http://samagrashiksha.in). The concerned State/UT validates the child wise information of the identified OoSC and STC uploaded by the concerned Block Resource Centre of the State for monitoring the progress of mainstreaming of OoSC. During  the  pandemic,  the  Ministry  of  Education  has  taken  various  steps  for providing  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 wide access- DIKSHA (online), SWAYAM (online),  SWAYAM  PRABHA  (TV),  other  TV  Channels  including  use  of  Doordarshan and  AIR  Networks.  Further,  an  Alternate  Academic  Calendar  has  been  prepared  for learning  solutions  for  grade  1  to  12  for  both  children  with  and  without  device.  Also, PRAGYATA  guidelines  were  issued  to  States/UTs  to  facilitate  continued  education through  various  modes.  The  guidelines  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. The  DIKSHA  (Digital  Infrastructure  for  Knowledge  Sharing)  is  a  national platform  for  school  education  containing  learning  material,  relevant  to  the  prescribed school curriculum, for the students and can be accessed by downloading the DIKSHA app  and  scanning  the  QR  codes  of  the  textbooks. DIKSHA  currently  supports  30+ languages  and  the  various  curricula  of  NCERT,  CBSE  and  SCERTs  across  India. Further, under Centrally Sponsored scheme- Samagra shiksha, financial assistance of upto ₹ 500 per child per annum upto primary level, is provided for Teaching Learning Materials  for  implementation  of  innovative  pedagogies  in  all  languages,  including mother tongue/ home languages/ local languages for language and mathematics.

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