Bangalore :The State government told the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday that a  special campaign will be held, from July 15 to 31, to bring 91,035 out-of-school children back to the classrooms during this academic year. As on July 7, of the 1,68,621 out-of-school children in the State, 77,586 have been admitted to various schools, said Mohammad Mohsin, Commissioner for Public Instruction, in a statement submitted to the court.

The government has also decided to use the provision under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act to declare a child as “a child in need of care and protection” to ensure admission to schools with hostel facilities when the authorities find that the parents are unable to send the child to school owing to various problems, the statement said.

During the 17-day special campaign, Teachers of government schools and volunteers of non-governmental organizations will try to ensure that parents are convinced to send their children to schools, the government stated. The Government said that Samrudhi, an NGO, has joined hands with it on this endeavour. The Azim Premji Foundation has been operating tent schools at Yamalur and Whitefield for children aged between 6 and 14. The Govt. is also collecting data on migrant children of migrant workmen from neighboring states.

High Court commends efforts.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice H.G. Ramesh, said it would review in August the progress made on the admissions of the remaining children, based on the outcome of the special campaign. It commended the efforts made by the authorities in the past three months