About 13.5 million children in the age group of 6-13 years in the country are out of school with Muslims being the most affected section of the society, a study by UNESCO has said.
NEW DELHI: About 13.5 million children in the age group of 6 to 13 in the country are out of school, with Muslims being the most affected section of society, a study by UNESCO has said.
The Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007 released here on Wednesday found the 13.5 million out of school students account for 6.9 per cent of the 6-13 age group children in the country.
Significantly, the rate of out of school children among Muslims was higher, at 10 per cent.
The Centre had last year commissioned the Social and Rural Research Institute to estimate and classify children out of schools on the basis of gender and social category.
The report said over 30 per cent rural Muslim children in Bihar were out of school, followed by 17 per cent in Jharkhand, 13 per cent in Uttar Pradesh and 11 per cent in West Bengal.
Of the 13.5 million children, 7.8 million were between six to 10 years old (the official age group for primary school in majority of the states), accounting for 6.1 per cent of the age group.
About 32 per cent out-of-school children were reported to have been enrolled but dropped out later, while 68 per cent never enrolled, the report said.
The figure is 7.8 per cent in rural areas against 4.3 per cent in urban areas, the report said.
In urban areas, figures for boys and girls are similar, while in rural areas, it is 6.8 per cent for boys and 9.1 per cent for girls.
Among various sections, Muslims top the list with 10 per cent followed by 9.5 per cent for Schedule Tribes, 8.2 per cent for Scheduled Castes and 6.9 per cent for Other Backward Castes.
Statewise, Bihar has 17 per cent (3.2 million) of the children out of school, followed by 10.9 per cent in Jharkhand, 8.9 per cent in Assam, 8.7 per cent in West Bengal, 8.6 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, 8.2 per cent in Uttar Pradesh and 6.9 per cent in Rajasthan.
On the other hand, some states in southern parts of the country have achieved universal schooling in this age group. Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu record the out-of-school rate between 0.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent.
The report said Pakistan and India are among four developing countries where the largest number of children are still out of school, though the overall numbers fell sharply due to a large reduction in India.
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