Associated principals of primary and secondary schools in Karnataka have raised objections to out-of-school children (OOSC) data recently submitted to the High Court.

The association asked the relevant department to release the survey data into the public domain. “The data looks suspicious as it indicates that 10,000 children are out of school. How can they consider children aged 0-3 as out of school or never enrolled,” the association‘s representatives said.

Recently, the Karnataka High Court was informed that 10 lakh children, below the age group of 14 in the state, were out of school and Anganwadis.

The investigation report was submitted to the court by amicus curiae in the context of a public interest litigation (PIL).

The PIL was initiated by the court in 2013 and Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe recently heard the case.

The submission contains the report on the status of children collected through a door-to-door survey conducted by various government departments including urban development, rural development, women and child development department and others.

The survey was conducted in rural Karnataka in October 2021 and in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and 319 local city boundaries in March 2022.

The report states that 15,338 children between the ages of 6 and 14 are out of school in Karnataka. Another 4.54 lakh children under the age of three are unregistered in anganwadis.

“How can a department consider children under three years old as in school, never in school or not in school? It seems that the people who carried out the survey had no idea of ​​the ideal age to enroll children in schools and Anganwadis?, we have every right to know how the investigation was carried out and the details in the public domain,” said a senior member of the association.