Gujarat model? 73.4% girls in age group 15-17 attend school, worst than all but one major Indian states

Worst performers: % girls, age 15-17, attending schools

By Our Representative
Latest Sample Registration System (SRS) data, released by the Census of India this June, are likely to create flutter regarding the "claims" that Gujarat could well be the role model for the rest of India for its efforts to "improve" school enrollment, especially of girls. They are enough for policy makers to sit up and think about what has gone wrong while projecting Gujarat as a model.
With just 73.4 per cent of girls in the age group 15-17 attending school in Gujarat, the state ranks worst compared to all 21 major states, selected by SRS for comparison, with the sole exception of Rajasthan (72.1 per cent).
SRS data are based on the data collected in 2014, when Narendra Modi quit Gujarat as chief ministership to become Prime Minister after his 13 years' rule, characterized variously as an "example" of good governance.
The data reveal that the all-India average for girls attending schools is higher by more than 10 per cent than that of Gujarat -- 83.8 per cent.
The data come after more than a decade-long drive to improve girl child enrollment in schools in Gujarat through what is called the annual Kenya Kelavni programme, in which all ministers, government officials – IAS, IPS officials and other class one babus – seek to “ensure” cent per cent enrollment in schools.
The state which ranks the best in this regard is, like earlier, Kerala, with 97 per cent girls in the age group 15-17 attending schools, followed by 95.9 per cent in Maharashtra, 94.3 per cent each in Tamil Nadu and Telangana, 93.7 per cent in Jammu & Kashmir, and 91.1 per cent in Punjab.

Best performers: % girls, age 15-17, attending schools

Even the so-called backward states are found to have performed much better than Gujarat, with Bihar's 83.3 per cent girls in the age group 15-17 attending school.
Other so-called BIMARU states performing better are: Assam 84.8 per cent, Jharkhand 84.1 per cent, Chhattisgarh 90.1 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 79.2, Assam 84.8 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 79.4 and Odisha 75.3 per cent.
Even in the age group 10-14, except for two states -- Bihar (90.8 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (90.0 per cent) -- Gujarat is the worst performer, with 91.7 per cent of girls attending school. This is against the all-India average of 93.4 per cent. Here, again, Kerala is the best performer, with 99.5 per cent girls attending school, followed by Punjab 96.8 per cent and Kerala 96.2 per cent.
As for boys, Gujarat's performance is a little better, though worse than majority of Indian states. Thus, in the age group 15-17, out of the 21 major states, all other states with the exception for four (Odisha 77.7 per cent, Rajasthan 78.7 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 79.2 per cent and West Bengal 79.1 per cent) have higher proportion of boys going to school than Gujarat (91.7 per cent).
Even the United Nations considers SRS' "annual estimates" as "fairly reliable estimates" in the "intercensal periods." The UN says, "SRS estimates are generally valid and reliable for the country as a whole and for bigger states with more than 10 million population."
Based on samples collected across India between censuses, SRS data are part of the Census of India framework, which in turn is part of the Union home ministry.

Comments

World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
As Lok Sabha polls approach, there is considerable ferment in one section of the population -- India's Adivasis, forming about 8.6 per cent of India's population. Things became particularly critical following the February 14, 2019 Supreme Court order, allegedly seeking to evict lakhs of tribals from their forest lands.

Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Congress plans its first working committee meet in Gujarat on February 28 after an almost 58 year gap, there is reason to wonder what is in store for India’s grand old party in a state which has been long been a BJP bastion – in fact ever since mid-1990s. Ahead of the then assembly polls in late 2012, talking with me, a senior Gujarat Congress leader, currently Rajya Sabha MP, frankly said he saw no reason why Congress would win.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

India, Pakistan told to eliminate nuclear weapons: N-war "would kill" 2 billion

Counterview Desk
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens, claiming to share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation, has warned that “an unprecedented global catastrophe” awaits the globe against the backdrop of warmongering in India and Pakistan.

Modi wants Pak govt be held responsible for JeM terror strike: World doesn't agree

By Sandeep Pandey*
I went to participate in a candle light homage paying event at Dr BR Ambedkar's statue organised by about 200 Dalit students on Hazratganj main crossing in Lucknow on February 16, 2019 evening, two days after the dastardly terrorist act in Pulwana, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), in which 44 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel was killed.

Women, business, law: India scores worst among all BRICS, several African nations

By Rajiv Shah
A new World Bank report ranks India 125th in its Women, Business and the Law (WBL) index among 187 economies it seeks to analyse across the globe. The report's main aim claims to be to "gain new insight into how women’s employment and entrepreneurship choices are affected by legal gender discrimination. On a scale of 100, India's score is 71.25, worse than the global average of 74.71.

Counterview

Search This Blog