Educational inequalities in India: a study of school enrolment by gender, religion and social group

Vini Sivanandan, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Abstract: School enrolment in India has been showing steady increase since the last decade, however still majority of the poor children, girls in rural areas, scheduled caste and tribes children are deprived of the basic education. There is a striking inequality in terms of gender, caste, tribes across region, so it was felt that a detailed study of school enrolment has to be made across various regions of the states in terms of gender, caste and tribes. Preliminary analysis revealed that there is a wider disparity in school enrolment; like the proportion of scheduled caste girls to all scheduled caste children in school is 36 percent whereas the corresponding figure for forward caste is 48 percent. The aim of this paper is to examine the inequalities in terms of school enrolment rate, and provide policy maker with necessary input and provide suggestion to impart implementation of quality education among the depressed section of the society.