ISSUES ON HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA THAT UDAYAN CARE ADDRESSES

Nearly 10% of India’s population; about 130 million of 1.2 billion people; are adolescent girls. Although 96% of girls enrol in primary school, only 1 of out of every 100 girls reaches a secondary level of education. According to current transition rates, a girl who enters her final year of primary education (typically Class V) only has a 54% chance of even starting Class XI. And this does not even include girls who drop out during primary school or never attend school at all!

54 million dropout of school before they reach class X; and a whopping 85% of the girls who complete class X fail to complete class XII due to financial and cultural constraints. Unfortunately, the situation in urban pockets is worse; only 14 of every 1000 girls reach class XII. Given this dismal scenario, it is as understandable why only 38% of university graduates in India are women.

Educating a girl child is often the lowest priority for many families, thus creating a grim scenario for the development of girls in the country. Securing higher education is particularly challenging because a girl’s marriage is assigned a greater value than her education (1 in 6 girls are married under the age of 18!) Gender discrimination, poverty and deep rooted cultural attitudes prevent millions of girls from weaker sections of the society to get equal opportunity, to continue their education, and to economically empower themselves and their families. Moreover, among lower-income groups, a girls’ higher education is often seen as an unaffordable luxury given a family’s preference to allocate resources to sons rather than daughters.

All of this adds up to stack the deck against a girl acquiring a degree and reaching her potential.

At Udayan Care, we are committed to ensuring that young girls from economically disadvantaged families are able to aspire and achieve their dreams of pursuing and completing their higher education and become independent ‘shalinis’ or empowered women.