A report on ‘identification of out-of-school children in the state of Goa’, as prepared by a Pune-based NGO, RMP’s Centre for Development Planning and Research for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan-Goa states that there exists 720 out-of-school children in Goa – 359 in North Goa district and 361 in South Goa district – in the 6-14 age group, which is quite minimal or insignificant number as compared to 28 million children in the country, who are deprived from school education.
The recent report further maintains that the proportion of girls among these out-of-school children is higher and stands at 56 per cent, while among the social groups, the proportion of the out-of-school children in Muslim community is highest; this proportion being higher in North Goa than in South Goa.
“As regards other communities, the proportion of out-of-school children is higher among communities belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories,” it observes.
“Nearly 15 per cent out-of-school children are disabled or handicapped, and the number of girls among them is higher than that of boys,” the report says, further pointing out that among the out-of-school children, the proportion of the dropouts is more than that of never enrolled children, in the age group of 6-14. The report also maintains that the percentage of out-of-school children is relatively higher in the age group of 11-14 (56.2 per cent) as compared with that in the 6-10 years age group (43.8 per cent).
“Considering the economic conditions of the out-of-school children, it is observed that nearly two-third of them come from wage labour category of families,” the report states, adding “Among the dropouts, nearly 75 per cent of them have left the schools when they were studying the primary classes, while the proportion among dropouts from Class VIII and IX was comparatively much less in the 6-14 age group.”
“Main reason for the deprivation of these children is their poor economic conditions. Their parents stated that they cannot afford economically to send their children to schools. Reason for the dropouts is the lack of interest in studying. In the never enrolled category, the proportion of disabled or handicapped children is higher. Apart from these reasons, parents of nearly 10 per cent out-of-school children appeared to be rather apathetic or indifferent in this respect. Among the dropouts, medium of instruction is also observed to be one of the important reasons for their deprivation from school education,” mentions the report, pointing out, “Among the migrating population, some children were unable to enrol their wards in schools as they were to produce necessary proofs of school leaving certificates from their previous schools.”
Taking the stock of the situation, the report says, “As a total picture that emerges from the survey is that the number of the out-of-school children in the age group of 6-14 in Goa state is rather insignificant, especially in comparison with all India figures. A total of only 720 out-of-school children were observed in both the districts together.”
“Excellent network of schools in Goa state, effective implementation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and overall higher proportion of literacy in the state are the main reasons for this excellent performance,” the report notes, remarking “Similarly, frequent/ repeated actions under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, extra care taken by AIE/ NRBC centres and the vigilance by some NGOs in this respect have greatly contributed to this achievement.”
The report finally suggests that it is entirely possible to make these 720 out-of-school children to go to schools in very short time and that too without much hard work.
The field work of this survey was carried out between March 20, 2009 and June 30, 2009. Enumerators were recruited for the purpose on village/ taluka level, and some college students also worked as enumerators, with help from their principals.
In all, 1,29,022 households – 1,34,004 in North Goa and 95,018 in South Goa – were taken as a sample size for the survey. A total population numbering 10,76,117 – 6,35,812 in North Goa and 4,40,305 in South Goa – residing in these households was considered, out of which 1,48,548 – 84,000 in North Goa and 64,548 in South Goa – in the age group of 6-14 were used for preparing the report.
The officials of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan told this daily that a number of out-of-school children belong to the floating population, namely migrants and sometimes go back to their native states.
“If we consider the children permanently residing in the state, then cent per cent of them attend school as awareness about importance of education exists in nook and corner of Goa,” they added.
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