J-K Samagra Shiksha launches app for out-of-school children

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Samagra Shiksha on Friday launched a mobile application for mainstreaming and tracking "out-of-school children (OOSC)". The 'Talaash' app was launched virtually by Jammu and Kashmir Samagra Shiksha Project Director Dr Arun Manhas, an official spokesperson said here.

"The OOSC programme aims to enumerate and keep track of OOSC in a timely manner through intensive data analysis and monitoring," he said. It includes a web-based and a mobile application for data collection and tracking of out-of-school children and a dashboard for reporting purposes, the official said.

The application is meant for use on smartphones by teachers and others, he said. It will also facilitate effective monitoring and tracking of out-of-school children as they are identified and enrolled in schools and special training programmes, the spokesman said. The Union territory has an estimated 27,500 out-of-school children (OOSC), comprising two categories - never enrolled and dropouts.

There are various provisions for mainstreaming of OOSC in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, MoE guidelines on special training and MHRD clarification on provisions of RTE Act, 2009. At the launch, Manhas said mainstreaming of out-of-school children was one of the priorities of the Ministry of Education which could be facilitated by this technology.

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