Definition of a
Child in India
As per the child
rights charter, a universal definition of
"child" includes all persons
under the age of 18.
40% of India's population
is below the age of 18 years which at 400 million
is the world's largest child population.
Facts on Education
Less than half of India's
children between the age 6 and 14 go to school.
A little over one-third of
all children who enroll in grade one reach grade
eight.
At least 35 million children
aged 6 - 14 years do not attend school.
53% of girls in the age group
of 5 to 9 years are illiterate.
In India, only 53% of habitation
has a primary school.
In India, only 20% of habitation
has a secondary school.
On an average an upper primary
school is 3 km away in 22% of areas under habitations.
In nearly 60% of schools,
there are less than two teachers to teach Classes
I to V.
On an average, there are
less than three teachers per primary school. They
have to manage classes from I to V every day.
High cost of private education
and need to work to support their families and
little interest in studies are the reasons given
by 3 in every four drop-outs as the reason they
leave.
Dropout rates increase alarmingly
in class III to V, its 50% for boys, 58% for girls.
1 in 40, primary school in
India is conducted in open spaces or tents.
In Andhra Pradesh (South
India), 52 upper primary schools were operating
without a building in 2002, while in 1993, there
were none.
In Maharashtra (West India),
there were 10 schools operating without a building
in 1993, this has climbed to 33 in 2002.
More than 50 per cent of
girls fail to enroll in school; those that do
are likely to drop out by the age of 12.
50% of Indian children aged
6-18 do not go to school
Source: 7th
All India
Education Survey, 2002
Statistics on Child
Labour
17 million children in India
work as per official estimates.
A study found that children
were sent to work by compulsion and not by choice,
mostly by parents, but with recruiter playing
a crucial role in influencing decision.
When working outside the
family, children put in an average of 21 hours
of labour per week.
19% of children employed
work as domestic help.
90% working children are
in rural India.
85% of working children are
in the unorganized sectors.
About 80% of child labour
is engaged in agricultural work.
Millions of children work
to help their families because the adults do not
have appropriate employment and income thus forfeiting
schooling and opportunities to play and rest.
Children also work because
there is demand for cheap labour. High incidence
of child labour is a result of high incidence
of adult unemployment.
Large numbers of children
work simply because there is no alternative -
since, they do not have access to good quality
schools.
Poor and bonded families
often "sell" their children to contractors who
promise lucrative jobs in the cities and the children
end up being employed in brothels, hotels and
domestic work. Many run away and find a life on
the streets.
There are approximately 2
million child commercial sex workers between the
age of 5 and 15 years and about 3.3 million between
15 and 18 years.
They form 40% of the total
population of commercial sex workers in India.
80% of these are found in
the 5 metros.
71% of them are illiterate.
500,000 children are forced
into this trade every year.
Data on Health
70 in every 1000 children
born in India do not see their first birthday.
The total number of such children works out to
2 million.
58% of India's children below
the age of 2 years are not fully vaccinated. And
24% of these children do not receive any form
of vaccination.
95 in every 1000 children
born in India do not see their fifth birthday.
Only 38% of India's children
below the age of 2 years are immunized.
74% of India's children below
the age of 3 months are anaemic.
Over 60% of children in India
are anaemic.
Acute respiratory infections
are leading causes of child mortality (30%) followed
by diarrhoea (20%) in India.
One in every 100 children
in India between age group of 0-14 years suffers
from acute respiratory infection.
Almost one in every five
children in India below the age of 14 suffers
from diarrhoea.
58% of India's children below
the age of 2 years are not fully vaccinated. And
24% of these children do not receive any form
of vaccination.
Only 38% of India's children
below the age of 2 years are immunized.
Almost one in every five
children in India below the age of 14 suffers
from diarrhoea, an easily preventable disease.
Special Statistics
on Girl Child
1 out of every 6 girls does
not live to see her 15th birthday.
Of the 12 million girls born
in India, 1 million do not see their first birthday.
Of the 12 million girls born
in India, 3 million do not see their fifteenth
birthday, and a million of them are unable to
survive even their first birthday.
One-third of these deaths
take place at birth.
Every sixth girl child's
death is due to gender discrimination.
Females are victimised far
more than males during childhood.
3 lakh more girls than boys
die every year
Female mortality exceeds
male mortality in 224 out of 402 districts in
India.
Death rate among girls below
the age of 4 years is higher than that of boys.
Even if she escapes infanticide or foeticide,
a girl child is less likely to receive immunisation,
nutrition or medical treatment compared to a male
child.
Updates on Nutrition
More than 50% of India's
children are malnourished.
While one in every five adolescent
boys is malnourished, one in every two girls in
India is undernourished.
23% of India's children are
underweight at birth.
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