RTE on the provision of imparting Special Training to Dropouts and Never Enrolled

Part II of the RTE Act of 2009 emphasizes the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education. Section 4 of the RTE Act provides for special training for Out of School Children (OoSCs), including those who have either dropped out of school or never enrolled in the first place.

The Governor of Assam Notified the Assam Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules on 11^th July, 2011.

The first provision of Section 4 of the Assam RTE-Rule is that the School Management Committee or the local authority shall identify children who require Special Training and organise training as follows-

1. The Special Training shall be specially designed, age-appropriate learning material approved by the State academic authority.
2. The Classes shall be provided in the premises of the school, or through classes organised in safe residential/non-residential facilities.
3. The Special Training shall be provided by teachers working in the school, or by teachers especially appointed for the purpose.
4. The duration shall be a minimum period of three months, which may be extended, based on periodic assessment of learning progress, for a maximum period not exceeding two years.
5. Upon being mainstreamed into the age-appropriate class, after special training, he/she is to continue to receive special attention to successfully integrate with the rest of the class, academically and emotionally.

Elementary Target, Achievement in terms of coverage and Mainstreaming of OoSC  in FY-2025-26:

Identification of Out-of-School Children (OoSC) for the Financial Year-2026-27:

5. 74452 Out-of-School Children (OoSC) have been identified as per the survey conducted in December, 2025. At the Elementary level, 67,499 OoSC and at Secondary level is 6,953.
5. The Gender and Education status of newly identified OoSC-2026-27.

Coverage Plan for coverage of OoSC  in FY-2026-27:
    4,006 will be enrolled directly into the formal schools by the Education Volunteers.
    Total 98,965 OoSCs (Fresh-63,493 & Continued-35,472) will be covered under Special Training Centres (STCs).
    A total of 6,118 will be covered in 59 Residential Special Training Centres (RSTCs), and 92,847 will be covered in 2,154 Non-Residential Special Training Centres (NRSTCs).

Coverage of Dropout Children (16-19 years) Through NIOS in FY-2026-27:
    Total 6,953 dropped out Out of School Children age group of 16-19 years will be registered in National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) with the support from the Educate Girls (NGO).

Co-curricular Activities Conducted in 2025-26:

1. Conducting a comprehensive situation analysis on student dropouts:  In response to the Hon’ble Chief Minister’s directive, a comprehensive situation analysis on student dropouts was carried out across all districts of Assam during August 2025. The study covered a sample of 28,363 children who had previously dropped out of school. Encouragingly, 13,998 children have already rejoined formal education. 
2. Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NIOS, Bamunimaidam, Guwahati, Assam: Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NIOS and Samagra Shiksha has been executed on 28th August, 2025 for coverage of out-of-school children of Secondary and Sr. Secondary dropouts.  A total of 154 Centres have been accredited for enrolling the Secondary and Sr. Secondary drop outs.
3. Entry of OoSC data on the Shiksha Setu: Entry of Out-of-School Children (OoSCs) of the Non-residential Special Training Centres (NRSTCs) in the Shiksha Setu portal. 
4. Generation of Login IDs of the New PRABANDH portal at the district level:  As per the direction of the TSG, New Delhi, the Login Ids for the New PRABANDH portal at the district level have been created in September, 2025.  The District Programme Officer (ST) has been designated as the Nodal Officer, and in his name, the IDs have been created. 
5. Uploading of Mainstreaming data on the PRABANDH portal: The mainstreaming data of Special Training was successfully uploaded on the PRABANDH portal of the Ministry of Education (MoE), New Delhi. Total 75,879 learners (Fresh & Continued) have been mainstreamed to the formal schools.  
6. Module development for imparting of Training of Education Volunteers (Special Training): 3 days workshop was organised at State Mission Office (SMO) in the month of July, 2025 for development of traithe ning module to be imparted to Education Volunteers (EVs) of Special Training Centres in a residential mode of training organised at districts.  Training module was developed in Assamese, Bengali, Bodo and English. Experts from UNICEF, SCERT, DIET faculties, expert teachers and partner NGOs such as PRATHAM, Educate Girls, Magic Bus, Vikramshilla, etc were engaged for development of module.
7. Conducting of State level KRP training:  The 2 days Key Resource Persons (KRPs) training was held at State Mission Office for 97 KRPs.  These KRPs to impart 5 days residential training to 2777 Education Volunteers of Special Training Centres (RSTCs & NRSTCs) at districts.
8. Organisation of the 5 days residential training of Education Volunteers:  The 5 days residential training of Education Volunteers of Special Training Centres (STCs) has been commenced in various districts in the month of November, 2025.  Total 2488 Education Volunteers (EVs) from Non Residential Special Training Centres (NRSTC) and Residential Special Training Centres (RSTC) will be trained by the Resource persons.
9. Operationalisation new Non residential Special training Centres (NRSTCs): Total 287 new Non residential Special training Centres (NRSTCs) have been operationalised for coverage of Out of School children (OoSC) in the month August, 2025. 
10. Health Check-up cum awareness on health and hygiene at Centre level: Programme was conducted for learners of Special training centres (STCs) in convergence with NHM. In the programme Health tests of learners and awareness on health related issues were shared by the medical staff. 
11. Conducting of Evaluation of Special Training learners:  Four evaluations in the form of 2 class tests and half yearly and final examination was conducted for assessing the learning level and the desired Learning Outcomes. Based on the evaluation children have been mainstreamed in age-appropriate classes in formal schools. Question papers were prepared in consultation with and guidance from academic core groups. 
12. Materials provided to STCs & OoSC of 2025-26: Uniform for fresh learners, academic materials such as Sikhan Puthi 01 to 09, Readiness package, Evaluation Workbook, Individualised Educational Plan (IEP), Teaching Learning materials (TLMs), school bags, Identity cards for fresh learners, sweaters for RSTC learners,  etc to all Special Training learners have been provided. 

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