Lok Sabha Question No. 176 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-03
Subject: School Drop-outs Aged 6 to 14 years
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri K Radhakrishnan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 176 ANSWERED ON 3 rd  February, 2025

## School Drop-outs Aged 6 to 14 years

176. Shri K Radhakrishnan:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  assessment  of  the  drop-out  of  children between 6 and 14 years of age from school during the last three years;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)  whether  the  current  budget  includes  any  specific  plan  for  bringing  out-of-school children back to school, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b): Education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution and majority of the schools  come  under  the  domain  of  the  State/UT  Governments.  Under  the  Samagra Shiksha scheme, the annual plans are prepared by the States and UTs based on their requirements and priority and this is reflected in their respective Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) Proposals. During the appraisal of AWP&B proposals, all States and UTs are requested to conduct household survey annually for the purpose of identification  of  Out  of  School  Children  (OoSC).  This  includes  dropout  children  and never enrolled. The identified OoSC are brought back to school and assessed for their learning gaps.

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.  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.  The drop out rate of children at elementary level for the last three years is as under:

| Year    |   Primary (1 to 5) |   Upper Primary ( 6 to 8) |
|---------|--------------------|---------------------------|
| 2021-22 |                1.5 |                       3   |
| 2022-23 |                7.8 |                       8.1 |
| 2023-24 |                1.9 |                       5.2 |

Source: UDISE+

- (c): Under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, financial assistance is provided to States and  UTs  for  undertaking  various  activities  for  reducing  the  number  of  out  of  school children.  For out of school children at 16 to 19 years of age, support is provided to SC, ST, disabled children, upto ₹ 2000 per child per grade to complete their secondary/senior secondary levels through NIOS/SIOS.

Further, special training for age appropriate admission of out of school children and residential as well as non-residential training for older children, seasonal hostels / residential camps, special training centres at worksites, transport/ escort facility are also supported as follows to bring out of school children to the formal schooling:

-  Up to ₹ 6,000/- per child per annum for non-residential courses.
-  Up to ₹ 20,000/- per child per annum for residential courses.

The data in respect of out of school' children (OoSC) for the last three years is as under:

(Figures in lakh)

| 2022-23   | 2022-23   | 2023-24   | 2023-24   | 2024-25   | 2024-25   |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Phy.      | Fin.      | Phy.      | Fin.      | Phy.      | Fin.      |
| 770374    | 42346.92  | 732291    | 32001.315 | 857900    | 44716.284 |

Source: Prabandh Portal

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