Around 9.30 lakh children at the elementary level across the country are out of school with more boys than girls not enrolled, according to the Ministry of Education.

The maximum number of Out of School Children (OoSC) at the elementary level are in Uttar Pradesh followed by Bihar and Gujarat.

The information was shared by Union Minister of State for Education, Annapurna Devi, in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

According to the data, 9,30,531 children at the elementary level are out of school including 5.02 lakh boys and 4.27 lakh girls.

Uttar Pradesh has 3.96 lakh out-of-school children followed by 1.34 lakh in Bihar and 1.06 lakh in Gujarat.

“Under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, all the states and Union Territories (UTs) are required to conduct a household survey for identification of Out-of-School-Children (OoSC).

“This Department has developed an online module for compiling the data of OoSC identified by each state and UT and their mapping with Special Training Centres (STC) on the PRABANDH Portal,” Devi said.

Special training for age-appropriate admission of out-of-school children and residential as well as non-residential training for older children, seasonal hostels and residential camps, special training centres at worksites, transport and escort facility are also supported to bring these children into the formal schooling system.

“The norms for special training is Rs 6000 per child per annum for non-residential courses and Rs 20,000 per child per annum for residential courses.

“Since 2021-22, financial assistance upto Rs 2000 per annum is being provided for supporting OoSC of the age group of 16-19 years, belonging to socio-economically disadvantaged groups, for completing their education through NIOS/SIOS, for accessing course materials and certification,” she added.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)