51,249 children, 5-17 years, never attended school: Survey Report

In Sri Lanka (SL), more than 51,000 children in the 5-17 years age group have never attended school, while 452,661 children were currently, not attending school, revealed a Child Activity Survey ( CAS) - 2016 Report. The report was published by the Dept of Census & Statistics and the Ministry of National Policies & Economic Affairs, at the request of the Ministry of Labour & Trade Union Relations.

Data collected, related to children aged 5-17 years, were in the areas of schooling, working conditions, child labour, health conditions and living conditions.

The CAS revealed that, of the 4,571,442 children in the 5- 17 years age group ( 4.6 % of the total population in SL), 4,118,781 (90.1%) attended school, while the rest 452,661 (9.9%) presently, do not. Of that, 51,249 ( 1.12%) had never attended school.

40,394 children in the Rural sector had never attended school, of which, 2,329 were from the Estate sector. Another 10,885 children in the Urban sector too, had never attended school.

The Report stated that, 87.07% of the children who had never attended school, were in the 5-11 years age group.

The CAS reveals that, parents in Estate line houses, urban slums and war affected areas, were not keen to send their children to school.

Experts are of the view that, family problems, parents leaving for foreign employment, poverty, lack of concern and illiteracy of parents and environmental factors cause children to drop out of school.

They also stressed it is a serious problem that a large number of children were not attending school, although the right to Education has been safeguarded by the country's Constitution, and pointed out the necessity of the Govt to take immediate action in this regard.