Ranchi: Jharkhand identified 19,862 children, aged 6 to 18 years, as out-of-school children (OOSC) between Dec 2025 and Jan 2026. Of these, 9,560 have been enrolled in schools, while tracking of the rest is under way. The Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) revealed this during ‘International Literacy Day’ programme on Thursday.The household survey, conducted through govt and govt-aided school teachers between December 2025 and January 2026, identified children who had either never enrolled or had dropped out.The council also identified 10,133 kids, aged between 3 and 5 years. JEPC is coordinating with district social welfare to facilitate their enrolment in anganwadi centres.State project director Shashi Ranjan said, “Our work will not be complete until every child in Jharkhand reaches school. The children returning to classrooms show that teachers, parents, communities and grassroots partners can make the system work effectively.”A JEPC-ChildFund India intervention for OOSC is being implemented across five districts and has reached 65 govt schools. Between March and June, 141 OOSC were identified and contacted, of whom 63 were re-enrolled or brought into the formal education system. As many as 55 children received psychosocial counselling, while 85 were provided academic support.“We use habitation mapping, teacher tagging and annual household surveys to identify out-of-school children. The process allows us to track children at the household level and take follow-up measures for their enrolment and retention in school,” said Binita Tirkey, JEPC’s nodal officer for OOSC.Around 50 children, who had been brought back into the education system through interventions by other organisations, participated in an interactive session with officials. Some children took part in reading and storytelling activities and spoke about their experiences after returning to formal education.The survey was conducted digitally through its Digital Application for Holistic Action Plan and Review for Out-of-School Children (DAHAR) portal.
