The state-wide survey to identify out-of-school children conducted by the School Education Department and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan annually will now categorise the children into smaller groups, so that appropriate intervention may be provided.
A senior official said that a concerted effort was being made to ensure that all children are enrolled in school through the survey of out-of-school children, mapping of schools through Geographical Information System and creating a database of students using the Electronic Management Information System.
“Identifying and mainstreaming out-of-school children is a component of SSA, but, this time the survey will categorise them into various groups such as children of migrant labourers, children of single mothers, children with special needs, orphans, among other categories,” the official said, adding, “We have also dovetailed other departments such as the Labour and Industries department.”
The survey, which is to begin soon, is expected to be completed by the end of March in priority districts such as Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Tirunelveli where there is a concentration of industries, the official said. “We will keep checking every six months, so that we can intervene in case a student drops out in the middle of the year,” the official added.
According to the official, mapping of schools at the block-level through GIS has also been completed and data will now be comprehensively compiled and analysed. “ Data collected includes the latitude and longitude, distance from the nearest habitation, facilities available at the school, among other details,” the official said
