Household Survey shows 4,081 children do not attend school in Agra city

Agra: A recent survey conducted by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to identify out-of-school children and primary school dropouts revealed that 4,081 children across Agra city were not enrolled in schools. According to the survey, conducted in April, 1,793 of these children are girls while 2,288 are boys. These children fall between six-14 years of age. SSA officials said the exact number of primary school dropouts and out-of-school children will be made available after the conclusion of ‘School Chalo Abhiyan’ that will take place in the city next month.

According to officials of the education department, efforts are being made to increase enrolment in state-owned schools. The survey report reveals that one of the primary reasons for decreasing number of students in government schools is poor financial condition of families. Even though primary education has been made free of cost in government schools, parents prefer to employs children in odd jobs in a bid to earn a little more.

Associate director of basic education, Agra district, Girijesh Chaudhary, said, “We will try to create awareness among parents to send their children to school. Poor families find it feasible to instead employ their children into various work to earn money.”

According to last year’s statistics, 4,025 children did not attend school in Agra city, which included both out-of-school children and primary school dropouts. Authorities claimed that most of these children either dropped-out soon after enrolment or never attended a school due to financial restrictions.

Assistant basic shiksha adhikari, Alok Srivastava said, “There are many children who live in slums and have never been inside a schools. We organise ‘School Chalo Abhiyan’ every year where we gather as many people as possible and make them understand the importance of education.”

Rajiv Verma, city president of teachers association here, said, “We have asked many families to send their children to schools. But parents are reluctant when schools do not have facilities such as drinking water, proper infrastructure etc. Many girls are made to take care of their siblings and skip schools while boys are employed along with their fathers.”