As the number of out-of-school children was halved to 13.5 million in 2005 from 25 million in 2002, Muslim students topped the list among these dropouts with 10 per cent followed by 9.5 of Scheduled Tribes and 8.2 per cent for Scheduled Castes, Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday.
The UNESCO, in its Education for all Global Monitoring Report in 2007, has estimated that there were 13.5 million children in the age group of six to 13 years out of school in the country. The dropout rates among the backward class children was at 6.9 per cent and 3.7 per cent among the remaining social groups, Minister of State for Human Resources Development D Puarandeswari said in a written reply.
The UNESCO had conducted a nationwide sample survey commissioned by the Government under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The minister said a multi-pronged approach had been adopted under SSA for reducing drop