50 pc of 5-29 age group going to educational institutions: Survey

New Delhi, Dec 19 (UNI) About 50 per cent of youngsters in the age group of 5-29 years, namely 53 per cent boys and 46 per cent girls, are currently attending educational institutions, an official survey has found.

Himachal Pradesh at 60 per cent reported the highest attendance among the major states in the 5-29 age group while Orissa accounted for just 42 per cent, well below the national average, according to the latest NSS report on ''Status of Education and Vocational Training in India, 2004-05''.

Interestingly, government institutions accounted for 63 per cent of all students who were currently attending. It was followed by private unaided institutions (17 per cent), private aided institutions (14 per cent) and local body institutions (only 6 per cent).

These findings are based on the seventh quinquennial survey on Employment and Unemployment carried out in the 61st round (July 2004-June 2005) by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released here.

While the reason cited by 55 per cent of the boys (5-29 years) who were currently not attending any educational institution, was ''to supplement household income'', 30 per cent of the girls drop-out were burdened by ''domestic chores''.

The report -- the third in the series of seven reports -- presents the estimates on literacy, attainment of general and technical education, current attendance in educational institution and vocational training received among the people in India.

Barely 2 per cent of those above 15 years of age had acquired technical degrees or diplomas or certificates. But, the proportion was only 1 per cent in the rural areas and 5 per cent in the urban.

About 2 per cent of those in the particular age group had received formal vocational training, another 8 per cent claimed to have received non-formal vocational training.

The most demanded field of training was ''computer trades'' among the 15-29 age group who received formal vocational training with around 31 per cent receiving computer training.

The Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) Industrial Training Centres (ITCs) played a major role in providing formal vocational training. About 20 per cent received formal vocational training from ITIs/ITCs.

The proportion of people in the 15-29 age group who received formal vocational training was highest among the unemployed. The proportion was around 3 per cent for the employed, 11 per cent for the unemployed and 2 per cent for people not in the labour force.

Like all regular NSS surveys, the present survey covered, practically, the whole of the Indian Union. All States and Union Territories were covered under the survey. The survey was spread over 7,999 villages and 4,602 urban blocks covering 79,306 rural households and 45,374 urban households.

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