Published on: August 06,2021 11:38 IST
Snehal Upadhyay-
The Karnataka High Court has recently ordered the State government to give its response to the report of a huge number of students dropping out of the schools or not getting admitted in the schools during the pandemic.
A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S Sanjay Gowda has directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to conduct a door-to-door survey for the children belonging to the age group of 0-18 in order to track the number of children who are going to schools.
“The State shall also respond on the very serious issue of large number of children either not attending the school or not even getting admitted to a school. Notice issued to BBMP is returnable on 24th August 2021….. We may also clarify here that in any case, as per Sub Rule (1) of Rule (6) of Rules of 2012, the BBMP is under an obligation to carry out the survey of the children in the age group for 0 to 14 years. However, without awaiting the direction of the Court, BBMP may commence door to door survey of the children in the age group of 0 to 18 years,” the order stated.
The bench was dealing with a suo-motu petition which was filed on the basis of a media report which highlighted the issue of the large number of children dropping out or not attending schools in the state.
In the door-to-door survey, it was found that around 1,26,245 children in the age group of 3 to 6 years in rural areas are not going to school.
Further, it was recorded that 33,344 children in the age group of 6 to 18 years are not going to school and 9,716 children have not yet got themselves enrolled in any school.
In the case of the urban area, the report stated that besides Bengaluru city, around 8,781 children in the age group of 6-18 years do not attend school and around 4800 children have not got themselves enrolled into any school.
Senior Advocate KN Phaneendra who is appearing as Amicus Curiae contended that the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012 provides for conducting door-to-door survey only for the children belonging to the age group of 0-18 whereas the Rural Development and Panchayath Raj Department came forward and conducted the survey for the children which were belonging to the age group of 0 to 18 years.
The Advocate further says that the BBMP wants to conduct a ‘house-to-house’ survey for the children belonging to the age group of 6 to 14 years who are not going to schools.
The Court said that “The learned Senior counsel is right in submitting that the survey to be conducted by the BBMP should be as per the survey conducted by Rural Development and Panchayath Raj Department.”
The matter will be further be heard on August 24.
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