Lok Sabha Question No. 1783 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-10
Subject: Enrolment of all Eligible Children in Schools
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Parshottambhai Rupala

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-

## 1783 ANSWERED ON- 10.03.2025

## ENROLMENT OF ALL ELIGIBLE CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS

1783. Shri Parshottambhai Rupala:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has introduced any program for Rural Education and launched any drive to enroll all eligible children as students;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and its current status;
- (c) the action plan of the Government to reach in all remote areas;

(d)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government to ensure re-enrolled dropouts or to become skilled workforce by up-skilled; and

- (e) the details in this regard in the State of Gujarat?

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

(a) to (e): The Department of School Education and Literacy is implementing an integrated centrally  sponsored  scheme  for  School  education-  Samagra  Shiksha  which  treats  school education  holistically,  without  segmentation  from  pre-primary  to  class  XII  and  is  in accordance  with  Sustainable  Development  Goal  for  Education  (SDG-4).  The  Scheme  is aligned with the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and aims to ensure  that  all  children  have  access  to  quality  education  with  an  equitable  and  inclusive classroom  environment  which  should  take  care  of  their  diverse  background,  multilingual needs, different academic abilities and make them active participants in the learning process.

Under  Samagra  Shiksha,  financial  assistance  is  provided  to  States  and  UTs  for providing various facilities to the children for implementing the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. As per norms of the Samagra Shiksha, the annual plans are prepared by the States and UTs as per their requirements/ priority and the same is reflected in their respective Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) Proposals. These plans are then appraised and approved by the Project Approval Board (PAB) in the Department of School Education & Literacy in consultation with the States and UTs as per the programmatic and financial norms of the scheme and physical and financial progress of the State for the interventions approved earlier.

Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to States and UTs for undertaking various activities for reducing dropout rate, including opening/strengthening of new schools upto  senior  secondary  level,  construction  of  school  buildings  and  additional  classrooms, development/strengthening of school infrastructure in northern border areas under Vibrant Village  Programme,  setting  up,  up-gradation  and  running  of  Kasturba  Gandhi  Balika Vidyalayas, construction of hostels for PVTGs under PM-JANMAN, setting up of Netaji Subhash  Chandra  Bose  Avasiya  Vidyalayas,  construction  of  hostels  under  Dharti  Abha Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan for unsaturated ST population, free uniforms and free text books as per eligibility, transport allowance and undertaking enrolment and retention drives.

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 to bring the Out of School Children (OoSC) to the formal schooling system. Also, financial assistance upto ₹ 2000 per annum is being provided for Out of School Children of age group of 16-19 years, belonging to socio economically disadvantaged groups, for completing their education through NIOS/SIOS, for accessing course materials and certification.

The Department of School Education and Literacy has 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.

Vocational  Education: Under  the  Skill  Education  component  of  the  Centrally Sponsored  Scheme  'Samagra  Shiksha',  financial  assistance  is  provided  to  States/UTs  for giving exposure to Skill Education to students of Grades VI to VIII and introduction of Skill courses  from  Grades  IX  to  XII,  which  are  aligned  with  National  Skills  Qualifications Framework (NSQF). At the Secondary level i.e., Class IX and X, skill modules are offered to the  students  as  an  additional  subject.  At  Sr.  Secondary  level,  i.e.,  Class  XI  and  XII,  skill courses are offered as a compulsory (elective) subject. The exposure of vocational education at upper primary level is imparted to school students by implementing 10 bagless days and internships. So far, 138 Job Roles (JRs) / Skill subjects have been approved to be offered to class 9 to class 12 school students.

As per information furnished on the PRABANDH Portal, 7,04,561 Out of School Children have been provided Special Training at elementary level till February 2025 in FY 2024-25, including 29,180 Out of School Children from Gujarat.