Around 8,000 children still out-of-school in Sarlahi

Barahathawa (Sarlahi), April 22: Although most of the local levels in Sarlahi district working towards ensuring cent per cent enrollment of children in the school this new academic year, around 8,000 children are still out of school owing to various reasons. According to statistics of Education Development and Coordination Unit in Sarlahi, a total of 3,797 girls and 4,480 boys of school-going-age (5 years to 12 years) were still out of school. Barahathawa municipality has the highest number of out-of-school children at 832 while Parsa rural municipality has the lowest at 242, informed Sunil Kumar Kushbaha, technical assistant in the Unit. Most of the out-of-school children are from impoverished families as well as from Dalit and Muslim communities, he shared. Lack of awareness about importance of education among the parents and their poor financial condition among others are the major factors due to which many children of school going age were still out of school, assessed Ram Narayan Raya, teacher at a primary school in Parsa rural municipality-1. Student Enrollment Campaign is in full swing to bring as many as children of school going age under the ambit of education this academic year, according to teacher Raya. Similarly, Ram Briksha Mahato, Chief of the Unit, observed that many children of school-going-age accompany their parents to workplace instead of going to school. Door-to-door campaign and awareness rallies among others are being run in the targeted communities to attract as many as out-of-school children to the school.