8.4 crore children in India have no access to school
Q. According to Census 2011 data, as many as 78 lakh children are forced to earn a livelihood each day as they tend to school as well. How many children do not attend school at all?- Published on 23 Sep 16a. 8.3 crore
b. 8.4 crore
c. 8.5 crore
d. 8.6 crore
ANSWER: 8.4 crore
Census 2011 data has revealed two alarming facts: as many as 78 lakh Indian children are forced to earn a livelihood even as they attend schools while 8.4 crore children don't go to school at all.
- Although the share of working students is low, compared to the whole student population, the numbers are sufficiently big to show how much importance is placed on education by families and the children themselves.
- They also point to the increasing cost of education, which should ideally be free for the age group of 5 to 17 years.
- Among students who work, 57 per cent are boys, the remaining 43 per cent are girls.
- Of working students, some of them as young as six years old, 68 per cent are into marginal work.
- The other shocking dimension is that 8.4 crore children don't go to school at all -that's nearly 20 per cent of the age group covered under the Right to Education Act.
- Boys and girls make up nearly the same proportion of the out-of-school segment. But, contrary to popular perception that children don't go to school because they are forced to work, the Census data shows that just 19 per cent of them are working somewhere.
