WEF Report and India's Decline:
World Economic Forum's 2024 report ranked India 129th in global gender gap, partly due to a drop in the education sector.
India's score in educational attainment fell due to updated UNESCO data on literacy rates.
2024 report (2022-23 data): Gender parity score of 0.964, ranked 124th in literacy.
2023 report (2018-2022 data): Perfect score (1.000) and ranked 26th in educational parity.
School Enrollment Statistics:
Indian government tracks data through Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE)+ and All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE).
Gender gap widens at secondary level (Class 9-10).
Girls: 47.9% enrolled.
Boys: 52.1% enrolled.
Higher secondary level (Class 11-12) has the lowest gender gap (48.3% girls).
Factors Affecting Girls' Education:
School Availability: More schools lead to higher enrollment, especially for girls.
Female Teachers: Presence of female teachers encourages parents to send daughters to school.
Transportation: Free bus passes or bicycles can improve enrollment.
Sanitation Facilities: Lack of clean toilets, especially in higher classes, leads to dropouts.
Higher Education and Adult Literacy:
Female GER (Gross Enrollment Ratio) in higher education is slightly higher than male GER (28.5% vs 28.3%).
Significant regional and discipline-wise variations exist.
Women make up only 42.5% of students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.
Adult female literacy rate is considerably lower than male (64.63% vs 80.88%).
Challenges and the Way Forward:
While some states have closed the gender gap in higher classes, boys might be dropping out earlier.
Need to address boys dropping out while encouraging more girls in STEM fields.
Focus on improving foundational literacy in schools and adult education programs for rural women.
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