New Delhi: Stating that denying out-of-school children admission constitutes a "clear cut deprivation of their right to education", Directorate of Education has ordered schools to enrol all such children.
A fact sheet released by the Delhi Right to Education Forum has revealed that only 70 per cent of Delhi’s children go to school, against the national figure of 94.5 per cent and 100 per cent for states such as Tamil Nadu.
"During inspections and visits, it was found that many schools were not providing them (out-of-school children) ID/admission number, which is a clear cut deprivation of their right to education and they are not following instructions issued earlier. All heads of schools are therefore directed to enrol all out-of-school children in regular schools," the notification issued by the Directorate says.
It also instructs schools to provide special training to such students to integrate them into the mainstream. "These children should be enrolled in regular schools and trained at the special training centre. The period of training will be from three months to two years. After imparting special training for the same period, they may be (sent to) their age-appropriate class after being assessed by SCERT," the notification reads.
Section 4 of the Right to Education Act clearly mandates provision of special training for out-of-school children either within school premises or in classes organised in safe residential facilities.
Also, upon induction into the age-appropriate class after special training, "the child should continue to receive special attention by the teacher to enable him/her to successfully integrate with the rest of the class, academically and emotionally".
But inspections by education officials had found many government schools lacking in this regard.
According to a 2009 survey conducted by the Samajik Suvidha Sangam Society, a non-government body, there are more than 2.42 lakh out-of-school children in the capital.