The gender gap (i.e. the difference between the percentage of males and females) in enrolment at the primary and secondary levels in rural India has decreased steadily over the last several years. Many states have shown substantial progress in increasing female enrolment levels while also making progress in reducing the gender gap, notably Bihar, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh (it should also be noted that it is possible to have both an increase in female enrolment as well as an increase in the gender gap). A notable exception is Gujarat where little progress has been made in reducing gender disparity despite the state’s impressive economic growth. Analysis of data collected by the ASER Centre over the last five years indicates that the issues of gender disparity and female retention in basic education have not improved. In light of the recent passage of the Right to Education Act, it is imperative to better understand why and how, despite progress in many states, some continue to lag in terms of providing basic education and, more specifically, in reducing the gender gap in enrolment levels.

The benefits of female education are widely recognised and the desire to achieve gender equality in education has been stated nationally (within India) and internationally by the United Nations, the World Education Forum, etc. Two of the eight widely supported UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) specifically address the issues of gender and education, as does the World Education Forum Dakar Framework. The 86th Amendment to the Constitution of India specifies that “free and compulsory” education should be provided to all children between the age of six and fourteen while the recent Right to Education Act is an attempt to further enable the achievement of this goal.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the Government of India’s flagship programme for achieving the universalisation of elementary education, has a “special focus” on female education. SSA is a partnership between the central, state, and local governments and implementation strategies are largely determined at the state level (theoretically within the framework stipulated by the central government). The causal relationship between SSA (and associated programmes) and the reduction in the gender gap has not been adequately analysed, but the association is compelling. Gujarat is an example of a state where economic gains have not translated to social gains (in the case of improving gender parity in basic education).

Using the data collected for the Annual Status of Education Report (130,000+ observations from Gujarat), it is possible to estimate the gender gap (disaggregated by age group) and regress (using a simple linear regression) the change over time; the results, shown in the figure below, clearly indicate a serious female retention problem in Gujarat.


Author’s calculations based on data from the
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER Centre)

By contrast, it is possible to compare the progress Bihar has made to that of Gujarat by looking at the male/female enrolment levels for a particular age group (in this case, 11-14). Bihar shows an increase and a convergence in enrolment levels while Gujarat levels have not improved. In the 11-14 age group, Bihar has surpassed Gujarat in both gender parity and overall enrolment levels as of 2009.


Author’s calculations based on data from the
Annual Status of Education Report (ASER Centre)

There has been some effort to increase female enrolment (e.g. the Kanya Kelavani Initiative, the National Programme for the Education of Girls at the Elementary Level, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, etc.), but it appears that these interventions have had little impact on gender parity in Gujarat. A promising area of research would be to assess why these programmes have failed in Gujarat thus far, while the situation has been steadily improving in other states.