Karnataka tells HC: special drive on to bring children back to school

A special campaign will be held, from July 15 to 31, to bring 91,035 out-of-school children back to the classrooms during this academic year, the State government told the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday.

As on July 7, of the 1,68,621 out-of-school children in the State, 77,586 have been admitted to various schools, said Mohammad Mohsin, Commissioner for Public Instruction, in a statement submitted to the court.

The government has also decided to use the provision under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act to declare a child as “a child in need of care and protection” to ensure admission to schools with hostel facilities when the authorities find that the parents are unable to send the child to school owing to various problems.

Teachers of government schools and volunteers of non-governmental organisations, during the 17-day special campaign, will try to ensure that parents are convinced to send their children to schools, the government stated.

New campaign

Pointing out that a campaign was held in May in villages, taluks and at the district-level to encourage parents to send children to school, the government said Samrudhi, an NGO, has joined hands with it on this endeavour.

Similarly, Azim Premji Foundation has been operating tent schools at Yamalur and Whitefield for children aged between 6 and 14, the statement said, pointing out that it has interacted with the authorities of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Odisha to share the data on children of migrant labourers and develop a website for this purpose.

Hailing efforts

Commending the efforts made by the authorities in the last three months, a Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice H.G. Ramesh, said it would review in August the progress made on the admissions of the remaining children, based on the outcome of the special campaign.