Determinants of Enrolment of Girl Children in Primary Education in Rural India: A Region-based Analysi

Abstract

This paper investigates the factors which can influence overall enrolment and girls’ enrolment in primary education in rural India. Based on the 2011 Census, 352 rural people-dominated districts of 16 major states of India are identified. Due to sociocultural differences among rural Indian people, the states are divided into four regions based on their geographical locations. Initially, after constructing School Grant Coverage Index through principal component analysis and with the help of the General Entropy Measure of Inequality, it is observed that the coverage of grants in public primary schools has enhanced and inequality in terms of receiving government grants has decreased over time in rural India. Results based on the static panel regression model depict that midday meal and teaching–learning material grants influence overall enrolment only in the Northern and Eastern regions of rural India. Similarly, midday meals, school development grants and father’s education influence girl’s enrolment in Eastern, Western and Northern regions but failed to influence in Southern regions of India. The availability of female teachers positively influences girls’ enrolment in primary school attainment in Eastern, Western and Southern regions of India. We have also found that parents are more interested to admit their girl child to public primary schools in rural areas.