Education is one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women. Although the right to education under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution have made it compulsory for the government to provide free education to everybody, the high rate of women’s education is still a distant dream. In spite of the fact that Sarva Shiksya Abhiyan to an extent has been successful in bringing the girl child back to the schools, yet their retention rate in the school is lower as compared to their male counterpart. In fact it has been found that there is a gradual drop out of the girl students as they move up to the higher classes. This is particularly true in the rural areas in India. The main reasons associated with this is that the parents expects girls to look after the siblings while they are at work, working with the parents as seasonal labour during the cultivation period and managing the household work while the parents are at work, the parents take more interest in boys education as against the girls as they feel that the girls are to be married off, increasing cost of education etc. Thus the universalisation of primary education in India remains a remote daydream for the women.

Savita Chauhan & Shiva Singhclick here to download PDF