DNA Exclusive | Students of unrecognised madrasas, vedic schools maybe considered 'out of school'

In a major policy move, a large number of children who are enrolled at unregistered Madrasas and Vedic schools may be declared "out of school".

In a bid to map "out of school" children (those who are not attending school according to government) and bring them back to mainstream education system, the Ministry of Human Resource Development is going to conduct a survey and all those enrolled at such unrecognised institutions such as madrasas, gompas (Buddhist schools) and Vedic pathshalas, will be tagged under this category.

There are a large number of unrecognised madrasas, which are attached to religious institutions in the country and so are Vedic pathshalas, which impart basic knowledge on chanting mantras and teach Sanskrit texts.

This was one of the major suggestions that emerged in the report of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) sub-committee, which was submitted to the ministry recently. CABE is the largest decision making body on all matters related to education. The report, a copy of which is with DNA read, "There are a large number of children attending unrecognised schools/institutions. These schools/ institutions may or may not provide regular, mainstream education. Children attending all such institutions are to be treated as 'out of school', even if they provide regular education."

"It is very important that at the time of mapping these unrecognised institutions, madrasas, vedic pathshalas, gompas, and other form of non-formal education centres are mapped and children enrolled there are counted as 'out of school'," it added.

Apart from this, the ministry is also considering having a standardised definition of "out of school" children, which will be included in all government data bases.

The committee also suggested steps to mainstream children and once they are brought into the mainstream, their status should be changed to "in school" child in the database.