Bhubaneswar: As many as 2,65,833 adolescent girls have not been enrolled in schools in nine districts, where the state government has implemented the scheme for adolescent girls (SAG) since 2011-12.
According to an official report of the women and child development department, 56,893 girls in the age group of 11-14 and 2,08,940 in the age group of 14-18 have not been enrolled in schools in the nine districts. The districts are: Bargarh, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Puri and Sundargarh.
The government has implemented 132 projects covering 27,355 anganwadi centres (AWCs) in those districts to ensure their right to education, health and protection, which will build a future of gender equality and justice.
The government itself has no understanding of how such a large number of girls are out of schools despite implementing several schemes for enrolment and retention of girls.
As per the report, 17,398 students are out of schools in Bargarh district, 35,228 in Bhadrak, 1,746 in Cuttack, 12,687 in Gajapati, 65,451 in Kalahandi, 56,567 in Koraput, 24,298 in Mayurbhanj, 15,498 in Puri and 21,238 in Sundargarh district.
Expressing concern over the issue, school and mass education additional secretary Biswanath Pradhan Wednesday directed the collectors to initiate steps to stop dropout of girls in the age group of 11-18 years and improve their enrolment in schools.
“Take appropriate steps to enrol adolescent girls (11 to 18 age group) in elementary, secondary and higher secondary schools/junior colleges. Special emphasis may please be placed on ensuring enrolment of all identified out-of-school adolescent girls in the age group of 11 to 14 as mandated by the RCFCE Act, 2009,” the collectors have been asked to submit reports to the government by September-end.
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