Nearly 10 per cent children between the age of six and 17 years were not attending schools in the national capital, according to a socio-economic survey conducted by the Delhi government. The survey covering 1.02 crore people showed that these children either dropped out, discontinued school, or never attended it, primarily because of financial reasons.
The Delhi government's survey was conducted between November 2018 and November 2019. The focus of recognising children out of school is in line with the Right to Education Act, which provides for free and compulsory education to children between the age of six and 14 years.
The survey covered 22,70,497 children and suggested that 2,21,694 children were not attending school. Around 90,110 children had never been to school, while 1,31,584 reported that they had attended school earlier, which meant that they discontinued going to school or dropped out of it. Of these children, 1,15,465 belonged to the age group of 14 and above.
The report found out that financial difficulty was the reason behind not attending school for 29.17 per cent of these children, while 12.7 per cent said that they had attained their 'desired level of education'. Another 13.5 per cent of children did not go to school because of domestic duties and 35.79 per cent reported other reasons, which may include lack of interest and disability, among other things.
As for the children between six and 14 years of age, the figures reported by The Indian Express said that most are adolescent girls aged between 11 and 14 years. As many as 7,483 girls were out of school because of financial reasons and 4,635 reported that it was due to domestic duties.
As for those below the age of six years, the government survey said that 55.4 per cent children of this age group went to anganwadi centres (AWCs). AWCs are responsible for providing early childhood education as well as supplementary nutrition to these children.
