Secondary school attendance in India in 2006

In India, 83 percent of all children of primary school age (6-10 years) attend primary school, as described in a previous article on this site. Primary school net attendance rates (NAR) are highest in urban areas and among children from the richest households.

Fewer children continue their education at the secondary level. Data from a nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey (called National Family Health Survey in India) conducted in 2005 and 2006 shows that only 54 percent of all children of secondary school age (11-17 years) attend secondary school. In addition, there are large disparities between different groups of children, as the graph below demonstrates. Boys and children from urban areas are more likely to be in secondary school than girls and children from rural areas.

Secondary school net attendance rate (NAR), India 2006

Data source: India Demographic and Health Survey 2005-06.

The biggest disparities exist between children from different wealth quintiles. Among children from the richest 20 percent of all households, the secondary NAR is 83 percent, compared to a secondary NAR of only 29 percent among children from the poorest households. The respective primary NAR values are 96 percent for children from the richest quintile and 69 percent for children from the poorest quintile. Children from poor households are not only less likely to enter school than children from wealthier households, they are also far less likely to continue their education after four years of primary school.

References

• International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), and Macro International. 2007a. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) 2005-06, India: Volume 1. Mumbai: IIPS. (Download in PDF format, 7.9 MB)
• International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), and Macro International. 2007b. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) 2005-06, India: Volume II. Mumbai: IIPS. (Download in PDF format, 4.1 MB)

Related articles

• Primary school attendance in India in 2006
  
• Primary school attendance by state in India
• 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

• Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), India
• National Family Health Survey (NFHS), India

Friedrich Huebler, 20 January 2008 (edited 12 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2008/01/secondary-school-attendance-in-india-in.html