More than 5,000 children in Kapilvastu are still out of school, according to a flash report of the District Education Coordination Unit.The report mentions that 2.4 percent of the children of age group for grade 1 to 5, and 11.4 percent of the children of age group for grade 1 to 8 in the district do not go to school. The report also states that only 56 percent of the children who are enrolled in child development centres go on to become first graders. 

Assistant District Education Officer Baburam Bhattarai said many children in Kapilvastu continue to remain out of school due to poverty, ignorance and lack of access to schools. 

The District Education Office regularly runs enrolment drive to ensure that all children of the school-going age are educated. But the message of the campaign seems to have lost on many parents, given the number of children who are still deprived of education.    

School Inspector Arjun Kunwar said besides annual enrolment campaign, there authorities concerned should think about introducing programmes to ensure that no child is left behind from education.

According to the District Education Office, most out-of-school children in the district belong to marginalised and impoverished communities.

There are 135,427 students in 431 community schools, Madarsa and other educational institutions in Kapilvastu.

District Education Officer Surendraraj Parajuli said the local units should launch different programmes to improve enrolment rate.

The country’s student enrolment rate stands at 97.02 percent.