The Surva Shiksha Abihyan (SSA) which recently held a survey on the Gender Disparity and Drop out rates in India has revealed the record which explains that in a typical Indian family, the son almost always gets special interest and care. According to the status of education in India it also highlights that parents prefer to send their sons to Private schools where as the girl is sent to Government schools.
In recent years, Karnataka claims to have achieved a healthy gender parity in school enrollment, much better than the national average, says the latest SSA survey 'Education in Karnataka State- A State Level District Wise Analytical Report'.
It is believed that Private Schools offer better education at a higher cost. This is said to be the main reason why most of the parents admit their sons in a private school whereas due to lack of equality and importance the girl child is sent to local Government Schools.
The report says "A comparison of gender parity in enrollments in the government sector schools, as against private unaided schools, clearly reveals the phenomenon of preference to sons for household investments in choice of schooling in the state".
The District-Wise gender parity in Enrollments in both Lower Primary and Higher Primary schools is as follows.
District | Govt-Aided | Unaided |
LOWER PRIMARY SCHOOL | ||
Bijapur | 97 | 66 |
Yadgir | 94 | 66 |
Belgaum | 102 | 68 |
Raichur | 100 | 70 |
Bidar | 105 | 69 |
Bellary | 104 | 72 |
Bagalkot | 101 | 69 |
HIGHER PRIMARY SCHOOL | ||
Yadgir | 82 | 63 |
Bijapur | 95 | 59 |
Belgaum | 97 | 65 |
Bagalkot | 99 | 66 |
Bidar | 105 | 69 |
It is found that the trend to shun government schools when it comes to enrolling boys is more pronounced in the state-level figures. In lower primary government schools, there are 101 girls for every 100 boys. But in private schools, the number comes down to 79. In higher primary, there are 99 girls for every 100 boys. And in unaided schools the number is said to be 79.
This trend is uniformly observed across the state, in both lower and higher primary schools.
Dropout Rate
After Class 7, one in every five students drops out of school. Though the state is marching ahead in terms of enrollment of children in Primary schools, the bigger concern is for those children who are lost during their transition from one class to another.
The report also points out that one of every five children who would have started going to class 7 in 2009-10 session has not reached the 2012-13 batch for class 10 in the state. This proves that the transition loss is about 20% across the state.
Indicator | Primary | Higher Primary |
Access Ratio | 100 | 100 |
Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) | 106.81 | 105.66 |
Net Enrollment Ratio (NER) | 97.69 | 94.83 |
Dropout Ratio of Children | 2.56 | 5.40 |
OUT OF SCHOOL Children Aged 7-14 years | 51994 | |
Never Enrolled | 4,330 | |
Dropouts | 47,664 |
The transition loss of children moving from class 7 to class 8 in 20123-13 was a whopping 57,130. Out of these 32,642 were girls. The total number of out-of-school children stands at 51,994. Out of these, 4,330 have never been enrolled.