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A major educational problem facing both boys and girls in
India is that although they may be enrolled at the beginning of
the year they don´t always remain in school. It is
estimated that 45 percent of girls and 41 percent of boys drop
out of school between grades 1 and 5 (The World Bank, 1997b).
Girls are often taken out of school to help with family
responsibilities such as caring for younger siblings. Girls are
also likely to be taken out of school when they reach puberty as
a way of protecting their honor. The data on school attendance by
age show the proportion of girls attending school decreases with
age while for boys it remains stable.
In 1992-93, only 55 percent of girls aged 11 to 14 were
attending school compared with 61 percent of the younger age
group .
Beyond Literacy
Although there are numerous studies demonstrating a link between
education and a variety of demographic indicators (i.e.,
fertility, infant and child mortality and morbidity), more recent
studies are finding that there is a minimum threshold of
education (more than 5 or 6 years) that must be achieved before
there are significant improvements in female autonomy.
Autonomy is defined as decision making
power within the home, economic and social self-reliance,
confidence in inter- acting with the outside world.
Of the literate women in India, 59 percent have only a primary
education or less. This level of education may not be
sufficient to meaningfully improve the status of these women.
Only 41 percent of the literate population, or 13 per-cent of all
Indian women, have more than a primary education.
Currently, a very small proportion of both men and women have
a college education, just over 3 per-cent of men and 1 percent of
women. Although a very small proportion of the Indian population
attends college, women account for a third of the students at
this level (Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD),
1993).
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