As migrants return, Bihar likely to face crisis in child education: RTE Forum convenor

By A Representative
The Right to Education (RTE) Forum convener Ambarish Rai has warned that following the in-migration of lakhs of people working in other states, Bihar faces a major crisis in the form of a sharp rise in child labour, child marriage, and child trafficking. The girl child education is likely to be affected the most, he added.
Participating in a video conference on the impact of Covid-19 on public education, Rai accused the Bihar government of “hiding serious issues” related to education arising out of the return of migrants amidst poor economic condition in the state. Pointing out that nearly one crore people go out of Bihar to work in other states, he said, out-of-school children is likely to go up drastically in the state.
State RTE Forum convenor Dr Anil Rai said that the state government lacks political will to implement the RTE Act, adding, in order to reverse this, all the children who are returning to Bihar from other states should be given admission. He added, in Bihar as of today only 2 per cent of schools are implementing the RTE Act, 2009 but now the situation is likely to get worse, if the government does not act.