1.17 Million Children In India Are Out-Of-School For Academic Year 2024-25

The government defines an OoSC as a child aged between six and 14 years...

The Union government informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that approximately 1.17 million children in India have been identified as out-of-school (OoSC) for the academic year 2024-25, meaning they are not enrolled in primary, secondary, or senior secondary education.

In a written reply to a query from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Sribharat Mathukumilli, who requested state-wise data on non-enrolled students, Union Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary stated that Uttar Pradesh accounted for the largest number of out-of-school children, with 784,228 of the total 1,170,404 identified.

The government defines an OoSC as a child aged between six and 14 years who has either never been enrolled in an elementary school or has been absent from school for 45 consecutive days without prior notice. This category includes both dropouts and children who were never enrolled.

While no out-of-school children were reported in the Union Territories of Ladakh and Lakshadweep, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands recorded two, and Puducherry recorded four. Among the states, Sikkim reported the lowest number, with just 74 out-of-school children, according to government data.

In response to a similar query in Parliament last year, the Ministry of Education reported 1,253,019 out-of-school children across the country for the year 2022-23.

Data from the UDISE+ portal, managed by the Education Ministry, indicates that 265,235,830 children were enrolled in schools during 2021-22, including 127,335,252 girls and 137,900,578 boys.