Primary school attendance by state in India

The average primary school net attendance rate in India is 83 percent according to data from a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2005 and 2006. However, the national average hides considerable regional variation in primary school attendance. India is divided into 28 states and 7 union territories. With the DHS data it is possible to calculate the primary school NAR in 29 states and territories, shown in the map and table below.

Primary school attendance in India by state and territory, 2006

Data source: India DHS 2005-06

The states with the highest primary school net attendance rates, between 98 and 99 percent, are Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. In these states, virtually all children of primary school age are in school. Six other states also have primary NAR values above 90 percent: Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mizoram, and Uttarakhand. In fifteen states and territories the primary NAR is between 80 and 90 percent.

In six states, fewer than four out of five children of primary school age are in school: Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Sikkim. By far the lowest primary school attendance rates are observed in Bihar (59 percent) and Meghalaya (60 percent), two of the poorest and economically least developed states of India.

Primary school attendance in India by state and territory, 2006

State or Territory	Primary NAR (%)	State or Territory	Primary NAR (%)
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	-	Lakshadweep	-
Andhra Pradesh	89.2	Madhya Pradesh	81.0
Arunachal Pradesh	67.3	Maharashtra	91.7
Assam	91.1	Manipur	80.3
Bihar	58.5	Meghalaya	60.4
Chandigarh	-	Mizoram	91.8
Chhattisgarh	86.5	Nagaland	71.9
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	-	Orissa	86.8
Daman and Diu	-	Puducherry	-
Delhi	89.9	Punjab	89.1
Goa	94.1	Rajasthan	81.0
Gujarat	91.1	Sikkim	77.6
Haryana	87.6	Tamil Nadu	98.5
Himachal Pradesh	97.8	Tripura	89.6
Jammu and Kashmir	86.7	Uttar Pradesh	81.4
Jharkhand	72.1	Uttarakhand	93.4
Karnataka	88.5	West Bengal	85.1
Kerala	98.1	India	83.3

Data source: India DHS 2005-06

Related articles

• Primary school attendance in India in 2006
  
• India has 21 million children out of school
• Educational attainment in India, 1950-2000
• Primary school completion in India, 1950-2000
• Education disparity in South Asia

External links

• States and territories of India (Wikipedia)
• Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), India
• National Family Health Survey (NFHS), India

Friedrich Huebler, 9 December 2007 (edited 12 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/12/primary-school-attendance-by-state-in.html