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Unesco: Women ahead in higher education, but rural-urban gap hits schoolgirls

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The latest Unesco report reveals that urban centers have achieved gender parity, whereas rural areas see only 59 girls finish upper secondary school for every 100 boys. Nationwide interventions like free lunches and separate toilets have helped lower secondary-stage female dropout rates to 7%. Meanwhile, university-level female participation continues to accelerate across the country, showing strong momentum once students successfully transition beyond primary and secondary hurdles.

Key points

  • Girls face sharp regional inequities in school completion despite national improvements i…: Girls face sharp regional inequities in school completion despite national improvements in overall gender parity.
  • Targeted infrastructure and welfare programs have successfully curtailed secondary school…: Targeted infrastructure and welfare programs have successfully curtailed secondary school dropouts down to 7%.
  • Women continue to maintain a higher gross enrolment ratio than men in higher education fo…: Women continue to maintain a higher gross enrolment ratio than men in higher education for seven straight years.

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Unesco: Women ahead in higher edu, but rural-urban gap hits schoolgirls

NEW DELHI: India has made substantial progress in closing the gender gap in education, with women now outpacing men in higher education. But a rural-urban divide continues to disadvantage girls at the school-completion stage. A Unesco report found that for every 100 boys completing upper secondary education in rural India, only 59 girls do so, compared with gender parity in urban areas. India has closed at least 65% of its initial disparity in upper secondary completion since 2000.The 2026 Global Education Monitoring report, Gender Equity in Access to Education, puts India's overall gender parity index for upper secondary completion at 0.89, or 89 girls for every 100 boys. In rural areas, it falls to 0.59.Unesco categorises India as having made "fast progress" among countries with large disadvantages for girls at the start of the century. This applies to students completing school within the expected age window and those finishing late.Recent govt data point to improvements in participation and retention. UDISE+ 2025-26 shows girls account for 48.4% of school enrolment.…

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