Baglung: As many as 1,600 children of school-going age from the Dalit community here are out of school despite the Education for All (EFA) campaign launched by the government.

The goal of EFA campaign is to remove illiteracy from the country in the next three years.

A survey conducted by the Dalit Class Uplift Coordination Committee, Baglung showed that 1,651 children aged six years to 17 years from the Dalit community in Baglung district are deprived of education.

The District Education Office, Baglung stated that 7,049 children in the district do not have access to schools and Early Childhood Development centres. Children from the Dalit community deprived of education comprise 23.42 per cent of the total number of children deprived of education in the district.

The survey found that only 11,488 Dalit children aged six to 16 years attend school. The total number of children of the school-going age from the Dalit community in Baglung is 13,139.

Under Secretary at the District Education Office Baglung, Kushmaraj Upadhyaya, said a majority of the children of school-going age from the Dalit community in the district is out of school because of the abject poverty, seasonal migration and wage labour for earning a living prevalent in the Dalit community.

source: The Himalayan Times,1 Nov 2012