6.54 crore Indians never attended school: Census

6.54 crore Indians never attended school: Census
6.54 crore Indians never attended school: Census

NEW DELHI: As many as 6.54 crore people in the age group of 5-19 years in the country have never attended any school while another 4.49 crore have dropped out of schools in the last decade.

According to the 2011 Census data, there is 38.01 crore population in the age group of 5-19 years of which 26.98 crore (71 per cent) is attending educational institutions. 4.49 crore (11.8 per cent) people have attended schools earlier while 6.54 crore (17.2 per cent) have never been to a school.

There were about 65.7 lakh disabled people in the age group of 5-19 at census 2011 in India, according to the census data.

17.5 lakh (26.7 per cent) of the disabled population has never attended any school, eight lakh (12.1 per cent) has dropped out of schools in the last decade while 40.2 lakh people (61.2 per cent) are attending educational institutions.

The proportion of disabled persons who never attended any educational institution in 2011, was found to be highest among persons with ‘multiple disability’ (54.4 per cent), followed by ‘mental illness’ (50.3 per cent) and ‘mental retardation’ (41.2 per cent) whereas persons with ‘any other disability’ (17.7 per cent) show the least percentage. (AGENCIES)