A campaign for bringing dropout students back to schools, launched by the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority, has identified over 42,400 such children through para-legal volunteers in the State.
With its mandate to ensure right to education for each child, the Authority has initiated action in collaboration with the State government's Education Department for re-admission of these children.
The Authority's Member Secretary Ashok Kumar Jain told The Hindu here on Monday that the number of children was counted on the basis of their enrolment in schools and the subsequent non-completion of education. Over 1,800 para-legal volunteers visited 2.15 lakh households in all the 33 districts in the State in April this year to arrive at the figures.
"Our survey has found that in every fifth household, there is one dropout student," Mr. Jain said. These figures were different from those of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, whose survey has adopted the criterion of children being out of school and reported the number at 12 lakh children.
Mr. Jain said the Authority was devising a tracking system to monitor the progress of students after their re-admission in schools. The Authority would also coordinate with the Education Department and the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights to achieve the larger goal of providing quality education to all children, he said.
Citing the Annual State of Education Report (ASER)-2018, Mr. Jain said the girls' dropout rate in upper standards in the State was quite high as compared to other grades. This could be because of two factors – first, the poor financial condition and necessity to work, and second, social insecurity or early marriage, he added.
The Authority also organised a one-day orientation programme here recently for the Education Department's officers on education to all children with the focus on underprivileged and out-of-school children. The programme laid emphasis on legal obligation regarding the right to education added as a fundamental right through 86th amendment to the Constitution in 2002.
