Odisha’s School and Mass Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra said that around 1,060 adolescent girls in the age group of 11-14 years were out of school in Odisha.
“The OPEPA (Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority) in 2017 had conducted a survey. It showed that 1,060 adolescent girls in the age group of 11-14 years were out of school in the state,” Patra said.
While answering a question, Patra rejected a survey conducted by the Women & Child Welfare and Mission Shakti Department (WCD-MS) which claimed that 55,868 adolescent girls in the same age group were out of school in the State.
To implement a Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), the WCD-MS department had conducted the survey to find the number of adolescent girls out of school. The SAG is being implemented across the state since April, 2018.
The secretary of the WCD-MS department, Anu Garg had also written to the principal secretary of School and Mass Education department urging him to take immediate steps to get the girls enrolled in schools, officials said.
