Panaji, Sep 7 (TNN): Almost 27% of Goa's population is enrolled in an educational institute and is pursuing studies of some nature, according to the latest data of Census 2011 released this week. But despite the Right to Education Act making schooling mandatory, 15,210 children in the state between the ages of 6 to 14 are out of school and have never attended one, as per the data.

Nearly an equal number of girls and boys aged 6 to 14 are out of school, the statistics indicate, but their social background is not clear from the data. This number of out of school children is huge in comparison to the state's data which runs only in a couple of thousands, though the education department has often accepted problems in enrolling children in Goa's floating migrant population in schools.

The Census 2011 data shows that altogether 17.42% of the state's population is illiterate and has never attended school in their lifetime. The number of total illiterate females is higher at over 1.50 lakh than illiterate males whose number is around 1 lakh.

But Goa also has a population of over 45,000 who are past their 20s and are yet pursuing their education while between the ages of 30 to 60-plus. Of the 3.85 lakh in Goa attending educational institutes in Goa, over 2.96 lakh are studying in schools, more than 76,000 in colleges, 7,070 are enrolled in vocational education institutes, 616 in literacy centres and around another 3,000 in unspecified educational institutions.

In addition, there are 1,342 students - 752 males and 590 females - studying in special schools for the disabled.

According to the new data, Goa's literacy rate has marginally grown from 82.01% in 2001 to 82.59% in 2001. Of the state's population of 14.59 lakh, around 3.85 are presently attending an educational institute and 8.20 lakh have attended an educational institute before, putting the figure of literate at over 12 lakh.