The quiet crisis of Delhi’s out-of-school kids

New Delhi: For 12-year-old Dev, dropping out of school was not a sudden step but the result of a gradual unravelling. His mother died when he was young. His father, who used to be often unwell, passed away soon after. His stepmother then left him never to return. “Everything in my life stopped,” he says.

Dev, who now lives in Shakurpur with his sister, attends the occasional tuition but remains out of school. However, education did not fail him. It gave way to survival.

Dev’s case is not an exception. It is, in many ways, the story of several children in Delhi.

At a recent stakeholder consultation on ‘Ensuring Access to Education for Out-of-School Children in Delhi’ organised with CHETNA NGO and Delhi education department’s Samagra Shiksha, such cases took centre stage, each revealing a different path to the same outcome: of children being pushed out of classrooms early in life.

Junaid doesn’t know anything about schooling. Living under the Sarai Kale Khan flyover, his days, which are shaped by the basic urge of survival, see him sometimes selling papayas.

There was, briefly, a glimmer of hope. A volunteer used to teach him how to write. Then the pandemic struck and the lessons stopped abruptly. Today, the barrier to his education is not intent, but identity. “Without an Aadhaar card, I cannot be admitted anywhere,” he says.

Dev and Junaid’s cases show that exclusion from education is rarely caused by a single factor. On top of that, the gender factor complicates the equation. Girls often stay longer in school, as dropping out can lead to early marriage. Boys face pressure to earn and are sucked into jobs in their teens. In both cases, staying in school is as difficult as getting in.

According to Rita Panicker, director of Butterflies, an NGO, problems strike early in life. “Many migrant children lack birth certificates, an impediment to their entry into the formal education system. While anganwadi records can help secure an Aadhaar, awareness is low,” she says.

“Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan surveys help identify such children and enable their enrolment, sometimes by initiating documentation. But the implementation remains uneven. Moreover, enrolment alone isn’t enough. Without sustained support, first-generation learners often drop out of school,” Panicker says.

Inside childcare institutions, the gaps are more visible. Neelu from Salaam Baalak Trust says even after admission, age-appropriate placement is a challenge. A 14-year-old may be in Class 9 on paper but still struggle with basic literacy.

This mismatch gives rise to classrooms where children are present but unable to participate meaningfully. Attendance remains low, with many carrying traumas that the system is not equipped to address.

“The challenge is not just getting them into school, but making learning consistent and relevant,” Neelu says.

“The collaborative consultation will facilitate the survey of out-of-school children and may support the establishment of special training centres in child care institutions. It will also strengthen coordination between Samagra Shiksha, the department of women and child development and NGOs within every district. Additionally, this is expected to expedite Aadhaar card access for underprivileged children,” says Sanjay Gupta, Director, CHETNA.

For children living on the streets or engaged in informal work, the barriers are immediate. Pooja from CHETNA says many travel 10 to 15 kilometres daily, selling small items just to ensure a square meal. “They want to study, but their lives don’t allow fixed schedules,” she says.

Without this stability, formal schooling remains out of sync with their realities. Experts propose flexible learning models to accommodate irregular attendance.

There are attempts to bridge these gaps. Child rights advocate Varun Pathak points to early warning systems that can track children at risk. In one instance, a child skipping school triggered an alert, allowing swift intervention.

At the policy level, efforts are underway to improve tracking of such kids. Sunita Yadav from Samagra Shiksha highlights a QR code-based system. Once an out-of-school child is identified, alerts go to nearby schools for follow-up action. Children are placed in special training centres for three months to two years before mainstreaming them.

Amid these efforts, one question persists: Does Aadhaar decide access to education? Col Nikhil Sinha from UIDAI says Aadhaar is not legally mandatory. “Schools cannot deny admission for lack of Aadhaar. The law calls for inclusion first. Documentation can follow. Yes, a lack of birth certificate can create problems.”

Women and child development secretary Rashmi Singh says Delhi was among the first states in the country to enable Aadhaar enrolment for the homeless by using surveys to overcome verification challenges.

Highlighting the gaps in the system, she says many children in open shelters remain out of school. Calling for special training centres within child care institutions, she says, “Every day a child misses school is a loss.” Systems like the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) alert mechanism help track dropouts in real time, she adds.

Singh focuses on the need to address the mental health of such kids through counsellors linked to child welfare committees and juvenile justice boards, while calling for stronger digital integration between anganwadis and schools.
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