Union Minister Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar has expressed concern for the “out of school children (OoSC)” in Odisha as their number is growing, officials say.
Javadekar during his recent visit to the State held talks with senior officials in the education sector and expressed his concern for the large numbers of OoSCs, who are needed to be taken care of.
In fact, Odisha has the highest percentage (6.10) of OoSC in the country as per the National Survey on Estimation on OoSC taken up in 2014, where it was estimated that over 4 lakh children of 6-13 years are under OoSC category.
While the east zone shares 4.02 per cent of the OoSC, the south zone has a share of only 0.97 per cent of OoSC.
Officials admit that this number is rising and steps are taken to take care of these children.
Principal Secretary Higher Education G Venugopal Sarma, Secretary School and Mass Education Ranjana Chopra and other senior officials were present along with Director IIT Bhubaneswar and Director NCERT, Bhubaneswar.
The Union Minister asked about the steps taken up by the State Government and Secretary School and Mass Education Chopra briefed details as to how the problem is tackled in Odisha.
During 2017-18, over 41,000 OoSCs have been identified to be covered through various initiatives through Sarva
Siskhya Abhiyan (SSA), said sources.
Poverty and economic reasons are cited for more numbers of these children. According to the National Survey of 2014, at least 28.52 per cent participants favor such an idea that due to acute poverty and economic weakness children are forced to go out of school.
Javadekar said the trend is needed to be controlled though various innovative initiatives.
He urged the Director IIT Bhubaneswar to work jointly with the State Government for expansion of education facilities as the students from preliminary level are needed to be groomed up, so that in future they will be joining IIT and other centers of higher learning.
He said that IIT Bhubaneswar has a role in developing primary schooling in the State. The Union Minister also pointed out that all the universities, including the Central University|of Odisha, have also a role in improving the education sector.