New Delhi: At least 15 crore children and youth do not belong to India’s formal education system, said Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He also said that nearly 25 crore population being below the primary definition of literacy.
Pradhan said this while addressing a session on ‘Job creation and entrepreneurship’ at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) annual meeting on Thursday, August 12.
“If we take into account the numbers of children and youths between the age group of 3-22 years who are registered in government, private and charitable schools, anganwadis, higher education institutions and in the entire skilling ecosystem, the cumulative figure from all the verticals is around 35 crore while (the country’s) population in the particular age group is around 50 crore,” Pradhan was quoted as saying by ABP Education.
“This means that at least 15 crore children and youth are out of the formal education system. We want to bring them into the education system,” the education minister added.
According to Pradhan, a census after India’s independence had shown that 19 per cent of the population was literate at that time. “After 75 years of Independence Day, the statistics of the literate population has reached 80%. Which means 20% population or roughly around 25 crore are still below the primary definition of literacy,” he said.
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