Chandigarh, November 21: The Punjab government has started a door-to-door survey to identify all children aged 3 to 19 as part of groundwork for the state’s Annual Education Plan 2026–27. The exercise, which began on November 18, aims to track school enrolment status, map out-of-school children and assess local requirements for education-related interventions.
For the first time, education department teams have been tasked with stepping beyond schools and offices to record information directly from households. Officials said the survey’s focus is to ensure that children from migrant families, daily-wage households, slum clusters and other underserved communities are included.
Survey teams have been instructed to prioritise highly vulnerable groups such as children working at dhabas, garages and roadside shops, as well as those engaged in ragpicking. The data collected will help facilitate their placement in schools and determine the need for special training programmes.
Heads and in-charges of government schools have been assigned responsibility to cover all households within a 3–5 km radius of their institutions. They are required to cross-verify at least 80% of entries before the information is uploaded on the designated app.
Education department officials said the verified data will be used to plan interventions such as residential facilities, special training centres and expansion of infrastructure, including smart classrooms and new schools where required. The survey is regarded as a key preparatory step in assessing local needs for the next academic year.
