State of Elementary Education in Rural India report

• The report is conducted by the Development Intelligence Unit (DIU), a collaboration between Transform Rural India and Sambodhi Research and Communication Private Limited.
• The first ‘State of Elementary Education in Rural India’ report is based on data accumulated from 6,229 rural households across 20 states.
• The study was focused on children in rural communities between the age of 6 to 16 years.

Major findings

• 78% of parents in rural India aspire to educate their girls to graduation and beyond and 82% parents of boys in rural areas want to educate their children
• According to the survey, 25% of male children dropped out of school during primary schooling.
• The dropout rate at this stage was higher for female children at nearly 35 per cent.
• Nearly 75 per cent boys and 65 per cent girls dropped out of school after completing primary school education.
  • Girls dropped out because of-
    • a requirement to help out in the family’s earnings.
    • due to lack of interest in studies
    • had to take care of household chores and siblings at home.
  • Boys dropped out because of-
    • the lack of interest
    • to help out in family’s earnings.
  • Non-availability of schools with higher classes within the village or nearby villages was also a major reason for dropouts.
  • 89% of parents participated in extra-curricular activities with their children.