GUWAHATI, Jan 17? Of the State?s 54,16,601 children in the age group of six to fourteen years, 14,49,088 are out of school. Of them, 7,47,908 are boys and 7,01,180 are girls. In all, 2,74,460 children are found to be dropouts in this age group, and 1,48,283 of them are boys, while 1,26,178 are girls. A total number of 11,74,628 children in this age group, in the State, have been found to have never enrolled themselves in schools. While 5,99,626 of them are boys 5,75,003 are girls. The State has 28,38,870 boys and 25,77,731 girls in the age group of six to fourteen years. The future of the State has one more hurdle before it. Of the State?s total child population, 2,16,645 are engaged as labourers. The number of boys in this army is 1,27,133, while the number of girls in it, is 89,512.
These are the official figures concerning the country?s future citizens in this part. These findings came during a survey conducted by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan mission in the 23 districts of the State. In the 23 districts of the State, the total number of schools upto higher secondary level is 37,360 with a total enrollment of 39,90,189. The total teacher strength in these schools is 1,45,295 making the average pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) 22, the survey found.
Of these schools, 23.38 per cent (i.e. 8,736) have pucca buildings, 48.73 per cent (i.e. 18,207) have partially pucca buildings, 18.53 per cent (i.e. 6,924) have kuchha buildings and 0.55 per cent (i.e. 206) have their buildings in the form of chhali. In all, 18 schools are running rented houses, while 475 have no building and 23,685 have no toilet. The number of single teacher schools in the State is 5,257 with an average PTR of 56.49. The single teacher schools occupy 14.07 per cent of the total number of schools in the State. In matters of average PTR, Dhubri District, with 30.52, is found to be at the bottom of the list, with Karimganj (29.53), Nagaon (27.84), Goalpara (27.4), Cachar (27.08), Sonitpur (27.01) and Tinsukia (26.99) placed in relatively better positions.
Nagaon District, with its 1,73,104 children remaining out of school, tops the list for that matter and Karimganj District, with an out of school child population of 81,154, follows it. Next to them are placed Cachar (72,709), Tinsukia (65,094), Kamrup (62,471) and Dibrugarh (51,748) in the list. In this regard, habitation-wise, plains areas of the State have an out-of-school-child population of 5,01,872,? which is the highest in this connection. The tea garden areas of the State follow it with 1,05,821 of their children remaining out of school. With a child population of 48,224 out of school, the char (riverine) areas follow the tea garden areas. Next to it come the mixed areas (46,046) and the hilly areas (41,813).
It perhaps needs no mention that with the country?s Parliament adopting the 93rd Constitution Amendment Bill, primary education for the country?s children belonging to the age group of six to fourteen years, has become a fundamental right. The State is now bound to provide primary/elementary education facilities to all the children of this age group. Under such a situation the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched in the country in the early 1990s and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched in 2001. In the State, the DPEP covered nine districts and the SSA later included the other 14 districts to make a State-wide effort for Universal Elementary Education (UEE). But, the SSA was launched in the State in January 2002, i.e.? it was delayed by six months in matters of launching, in the State. SSA sources attribute this delay to the detailed survey done to assess the ground reality for the implementation of the programme. Only a few States in the country can boast of such a detailed survey for the implementation of the SSA programme, the sources said.