Parents in rural India want their daughters to study till graduation and beyond: Report

A new report has found that parents in rural India are increasingly keen to see their daughters study till graduation and beyond. The report, which was launched by the Union Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan, is based on data accumulated from 6,229 rural households across 20 states.

The report found that 78% parents of girls in rural areas want to educate their children to graduation and above. This is a significant increase from the 62% of parents who said the same thing in 2018. The report also found that 82% parents of boys in rural areas want to educate their children to graduation and above.

The report also found that the dropout rate for girls in rural India is still higher than the dropout rate for boys. One-fourth of male children dropped out of school during primary schooling, while the dropout rate for female children was nearly 35 per cent.

The report attributed the increase in the number of parents who want their daughters to study to a number of factors, including the rising awareness of the importance of education for girls, the increasing availability of girls' schools in rural areas, and the government's focus on improving the quality of education in rural India.

The report also found that the government's flagship program, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, has had a positive impact on the state of elementary education in rural India. The program has helped to increase the number of schools in rural areas, improve the quality of education, and reduce the dropout rate.

However, the report also found that there are still a number of challenges that need to be addressed in order to improve the state of elementary education in rural India. These challenges include:

The lack of access to schools in remote areas.

The poor quality of education in some schools.

The high dropout rate, especially for girls.

The lack of financial resources for families to send their children to school.

The report called for the government to take steps to address these challenges and to improve the state of elementary education in rural India. These steps include:

Expanding the reach of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to all rural areas.

Improving the quality of education in rural schools.

Reducing the dropout rate, especially for girls.

Providing financial assistance to families to send their children to school.

The report said that these steps are essential to ensuring that all children in rural India have access to quality education.