According to a recent U-DISE Plus data, 1,19,000 students in
Maharashtra have been "out-of-school" during the previous academic year. Of the total, 1,18,997 students are not enrolled in school and 1,542 school-related deaths are included in the data. These statistics paint a worrying image, despite the state government's efforts to guarantee an education for every child.
With 19,363 children no longer enrolled in school, Pune district leads the nation in the number of out-of-school children. Followed by Mumbai Suburban (13,944 students) and Thane (9,532 pupils). Meanwhile, with 245 deaths of students during the past academic year, Thane district had the highest number in the state.
Meanwhile, state School Education Department survey in 2023 found that 1,528 students in the districts of Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad were not in school.
With 928 students overall—676 of them are from Dahanu taluka—Palghar district has the most number of out-of-school children among the four districts' 1,528 total, according to data from the office of the Deputy Director of School Education. The Thane Zilla Parishad zone was next, with 380 reported out-of-school pupils. There were a total of 182 and 38 out-of-school students registered in Mumbai and Raigad ZP, respectively.
Concerned educators and campaigners have expressed their belief that there is a good possibility the number of learners who are not in school is underreported. The campaign, which ran from August 17 to August 31, 2023, sought to locate migratory, out-of-school, and non-regular kids in the state. The age range of the campaign's target audience was 3 to 18 years old.
It has come to light that the differences in Aadhaar card registration have been attributed for the increase in out-of-school pupils. The administration has made it clear that during the Aadhaar verification process, problems like name changes or inconsistencies in the date of birth have led to pupils being mistakenly reported as absentee from school. Remote areas are particularly affected by this issue, as many residents lack Aadhaar cards.
The verification of names is still ongoing, according to Sameer Sawant, State Project Coordinator and Director of the Maharashtra Prathamik Shikshan Parishad (Maharashtra Primary Education Council). He said that in order to assure correctness, these verifications are being carried out independently by educators and representatives of the education department.
According to media reports, students have been registering for Aadhaar for the past two years. Students who have name changes or inconsistencies in their birthdates are not able to get their Aadhaar verified, and as a result, they are marked as out of school. Due to problems with Aadhar registration in numerous regions, there is a considerable proportion of students who are not in school. Aadhaar registration used to be completed with the principal's signature.
Currently, an Aadhaar card must belong to one of the parents. Many people do not have Aadhaar cards in remote areas like Palghar, which results in a large number of students being marked as not in school. There are still many children without a UID number, and there have been name or parent name discrepancies, among other issues.
As per media reports, the data verification process is currently ongoing. The number will drop as soon as the verification process is finished.
Share
Tweet
