SC briefed on children forced to quit school after parents lost jobs due to COVID-19

“Why can’t the State come to their rescue,” asks Supreme Court Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao, upon learning that very little was known about children who were forced to drop school, during COVID-19 when they lost family members who were their sole means of sustenance

The Supreme Court’s attention was drawn on Monday to the reality that an unaccounted number of children may have dropped out of school because their parents, though alive, lost their jobs or families got displaced during the COVID-19 outbreak.

So far, the court has mainly focused on identifying children orphaned or who have lost one of their parents to the pandemic.

A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao learnt that very little was known about children who were forced to drop out of school during the COVID-19 upsurge when their families lost their sole means of sustenance. In fact, the court wondered whether children who dropped out because their parents lost their livelihood may equal, if not best, the number of children orphaned by the COVID-19 virus.

Supreme Court’s amicus curiae, advocate Gaurav Agarwal, said these children who left school to support their families had not got the attention they deserved. While authorities like the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and State governments were actively collecting data on COVID orphans, children who dropped out of school hardly get a mention for the sole reason that their parents or guardians were still alive.

Mr. Agarwal said such children also do not figure in the NCPCR’s ‘Bal Swaraj’ portal which collected data on COVID orphans. There was no information, even on the internet, about children who left school after their parents lost their jobs or the families got displaced due to migration of labour, the amicus curiae submitted.

He said the only way forward to track these children would be to have the education departments verify their details.

“Education is the fundamental right of these children... Why can’t the State come to their rescue?” Justice Rao asked. The court ordered the NCPCR to “ponder” over the issue raised by Mr. Agarwal and submit its suggestions for a way out on the next date of hearing.