Gurgaon: Special centers launched by the Ministry of Education to integrate children outside of school into formal education have seen an increase in the number of students.
There are 4,400 students studying around 134 special centers established in the city, officials said.
Data from the Ministry of Education shows that the centers have increased by around 400 students in recent weeks.
The initial survey of student dropouts conducted earlier this year has identified around 25,000 children outside the school in the state, where Gurgaon has a maximum number – 4,000.
Asked about the increase in students in these centers to 4,400 when the survey identified 4,000 children, the Ministry of Education official said the increase could be largely associated with the reopening of recent schools for grade 1 to 12, and for the increasing number of migrant workers who returned to the city as economic activity increases.
School officials and teachers regularly conduct surveys in slums to identify children outside of school, the department said.
“Our special centers in Gurgaon received encouraging responses and we saw an increase in the number of students who came to these centers.
The number tended to increase,” said a senior education department official to Ti.
After the survey to identify children outside the school was completed earlier this year, children under seven years were immediately accepted in class 1 in their closest elementary school.
Those aged 8 to 14 years have been received in special centers, where they underwent a six-month bridge course.
They will be accepted in classes that are suitable in the age of the next academic session, which will begin from March 2022.