For Over 70,000 Students, Classrooms Are Their Homes; Tamil Nadu Leads List: Centre

There are 72,186 students whose education is based in their home instead of any school in the country for the year 2023-24, the Union education ministry has said.

Of the 72,186 students, Tamil Nadu has 11,400 students who don’t go to schools but learn their lessons sitting in their homes. Following Tamil Nadu is Uttar Pradesh with 10,935 students. The number includes those who are special children as well as children whose parents refused to send them to schools.

The National Education Policy (NEP) advocates full equity and inclusion as the cornerstone of education to ensure that all students are able to thrive in the education system.

“The policy recommends providing the choice for home-based education for children with severe and multiple disabilities who are unable to go to schools. The Samagra Shiksha scheme has been aligned with the NEP 2020 to ensure that all children have access to quality education,” said a senior ministry official.

The centrally sponsored Samagra Shiksha covers all children, including children with special needs. “Under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, there is a dedicated component for inclusive education for children with special needs (CwSN) through which various provisions are made available for the educational needs of CwSN such as, provision of aids, appliances, assistive devices & teaching learning materials (TLMs) etc. under the scheme,” said the official.

This includes home-based education for children with multiple &/severe disabilities who are unable to attend school. For the year 2023-24, support for 72,186 CwSN, who are enrolled in the home-based education programme has been approved, with an estimated outlay of Rs 2,067.93 lakh.

“Parenting is of great significance in the current age of disruption in all spheres of life. Parent and community participation can go a long way in helping children overcome the challenges that they face and providing a safe and conducive environment for learning,” said the official.

Parents and care givers can contribute immensely in providing appropriate learning experiences to their children. A comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiated as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education.