Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) under the Ministry of Education, on Saturday, 16 May chaired a high-level review meeting in New Delhi to assess strategies for bringing school dropouts back into formal education. The meeting comes against a stark backdrop: more than 2 crore children between the ages of 14 and 18 are currently out of school across India.

The Scale of the Crisis

Kumar cited available data showing that out of every 100 children who enrol in Class I, only 62 make it to Class XII — a dropout rate that underscores a systemic failure in retaining students through secondary education. He identified economic compulsions, domestic responsibilities, and livelihood-related pressures as the primary drivers pushing children out of the school system.

Notably, this attrition is concentrated in the adolescent age band — precisely when children are most vulnerable to being absorbed into informal labour markets or early marriage, making the intervention window both narrow and critical.

Flexible Pathways as a Parallel Track

Kumar stressed that while formal school reintegration remains the primary goal, children who cannot return to regular classrooms must be linked to Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mechanisms. These include the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and various State Open Schools, which offer flexible learning pathways without requiring full-time attendance.

He also underlined the indispensable role of District Collectors and district administrations in translating the initiative from policy to ground-level action, calling for it to be run as a nationwide campaign rather than a departmental exercise.

Mission-Mode Approach and District-Level Convergence

Joint Secretary Prachi Pandey told the meeting that the issue of out-of-school children is being addressed in mission mode, with a proposed initiative built on a data-driven approach and a strong emphasis on last-mile outreach. She called for convergence across departments at the state, district, and local levels to ensure effective identification, enrolment, and retention of out-of-school children.

Pandey outlined preparatory activities ahead of the formal launch, including the enrolment of NIOS Facilitators, distribution of starter kits, preliminary surveys, and initial enrolment of children in pilot areas.

Pilot Districts and Phase-One Rollout

Pilot districts with high concentrations of out-of-school children have been identified for initial implementation. These span Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi.

In the first phase, the initiative will be rolled out across 10 districts. Memoranda of Commitment (MoCs) will be signed with participating states to formalise implementation responsibilities. Learnings from the pilot districts will inform a subsequent nationwide scale-up.

What Comes Next

The government's stated ambition is to ensure every child has access to education through at least the secondary and senior secondary levels, paired with employable skills aligned to local economic conditions. Whether the mission-mode framing translates into measurable enrolment gains will depend heavily on how effectively district administrations execute on the ground — a challenge that past education campaigns have frequently stumbled on.