Skip to main content

Gujarat's 22% rural girls fail to attend school, worse than all states, including UP, Bihar: Govt of India report

By Rajiv Shah
A Government of India (GoI) report, released recently, has found that, despite much hype around girl child education through Kanya Kalavani Mahotsav – the annual school enrolment event launched by Narendra Modi as chief minister in Gujarat way back 2004 – the “model” state’s rural girls fare worse among all 21 major Indian states in schooling.
Based on a survey of all Indian districts (640 as per 2011 Census), the data in the report reveal that Gujarat’s 77.9% rural girls in the age group 6-17 attended school in 2014-15 and 2015-16, the years of the survey. This is worse than any other state, with Uttar Pradesh faring the next better. While the best performer is Kerala (97.7%), all so-called Bimaru states perform better than Gujarat.
The percentage of rural girls attending schools, for instance, is 82.9% in Jharkhand, 82.3% in Bihar, 81.1% in Odisha, 80.2% in Odisha, 79.9% in Madhya Pradesh, 79% in Rajasthan, and 78.5% in Uttar Pradesh – the states known for their allegedly poor economic performance.
The data form part of the final report of the National Family Health Survey, 2015-16 (NFHS-4), released last month by the Government of India. The aim of collecting education-related data, it says, is to provide “a context for interpreting demographic and health indicators” across India.
Apart from school attendance, the report also provides information on drinking water, sanitation, exposure to smoke inside the home, wealth, hand washing, composition of the household population, educational attainment, birth registration, children’s living arrangements, and parental survivorship.
Gujarat’s ranking is not just poorest for school attendance of rural girls; it is equally bad for urban girls in the age group 6-17. Thus, the report reveals that 82.2% of urban girls attended school during the two survey periods, 2014-15 and 2015-16, which is worse among all 21 major Indian states, with the sole exception of Assam (77.3%).
The best performer here again in Kerala, with 97% urban girls attending school, with all other so-called Bimaru states, with the exception of Odisha, performing better than Gujarat, including Rajasthan 87.7%, Chhattisgarh 85.4%, Bihar 85.2%, Jharkhand 83.8%, Uttar Pradesh 83.2%, and Madhya Pradesh 82.3%.
The figures have been arrived at, says the report, by ascertaining the total number of children attending primary and secondary school, divided by the official school age population at both the levels. The survey finds that, across India, 85% of children in the age group 6-17 attended school, including pre-primary.
Interestingly, Gujarat’s average, rural plus urban, of those attending school comes to 81.2% (85.3% boys and 78.4% girls).
All India average
The report further says, “Almost all (95%) males and females age 6-10 attend school, including pre-primary school. This percentage decreases to 88 percent for children age 11-14 and then drops further to 63 percent for children age 15-17.”
It adds, “There is almost no difference in school attendance by males and females at age 6-14, but males are more likely than females to attend school at age 15-17 (67% versus 60%). Urban-rural differentials in school attendance are minimal at age 6-10, but widen at older ages.”
While there is no state-wise breakup, the report finds that “attendance in the lowest wealth quintile is 52 percent for girls and 55 percent for boys, compared with 80 percent for girls and 81 percent for boys in the highest wealth quintile.”

Comments

Uma said…
Pramod Mahajan said India is shining but it did not. Modi said Gujarat is shining but it appears that it is not. What is going to happen now?
Anonymous said…
Greetings! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers
and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche.
Your blog provided us useful information to work on.
You have done a outstanding job!

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'A disaster in the making': Expansion of oil palm plantations in Northeast India

By Rupa Chinai, Ravi Chellam*  Until a few decades ago, India was nearly 100% self-sufficient in edible oils, with a diverse variety of oilseeds that were grown and consumed sustainably in keeping with the ecological and climatic conditions of different regions in the country. Today, India is highly reliant on palm oil imports to meet its vegetable oil demands. 

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.