The Centre on Tuesday resolved to identify the number of out-of-school children in the country. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar while addressing the second day of the 65th Cabinet Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meeting said that the Centre and State Governments have resolved to identify the number of such children.
The panel recommended the need to have a standardised definition of out-of-school children and that States should conduct joint surveys to identify such children.
Javadekar also emphasised that education is a national agenda which empowers the individual, family, society and the nation. District-wise findings of the National Achievement Survey (NAS) for classes III, V and VIII were tabled in the meeting. A sub-committee on out-of-school children has been mandated to submit its final report by the end of this month.
Minister of State for HRD Dr. Satya Pal Singh appreciated the growth in GER to 25.2 percent but the task to achieve GER targets requires a stupendous effort in the massive increase of seats that will be required. He also flagged the issues relating to strategically locating institutions near the natural resources, norms for buildings to be reviewed given the extent and reach of technology, benchmarking learning outcomes in higher education.
Brief presentations covering the Status of Higher Education, improving the Quality and Accountability in Higher Education, Digital Initiatives, Skill Development for New India - 2022 were made. Among the draft recommendations, the committee suggested a residential, English medium, CBSE school for girls on lines of Navodaya Vidyalayas in each district; extension of mid-day meal support up to Class XII; free education up to PG level; residential degree colleges and polytechnics for women in district headquarters and an exclusive women University in each state.
Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma ,who also participated in the CABE meeting highlighted, the need for integrating education and culture to instil cultural pride in our youth. He requested the State governments to synergize their higher educational institutions with the Ministry of Culture’s Centres for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) located in the respective states.
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, Social Welfare Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot and Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had already expressed their viewpoint on the first day of CABE session on Monday.