Title: Universalisation of education in India: myth or reality? A case study of West Bengal

Authors: Shrabanti Maity

Addresses: Department of Economics, Assam University (A Central University), Silchar-788011, Assam, India

Abstract: The movement for universalisation of education began in the UK about a century ago and it reached India several decades later. Female education is important for having success in issues like gender equality and alleviation of poverty. Although admission of girls has gone up significantly over the past few years, but at the same time the dropout rate of girl student before or at the point of transition from class five to class six is more than 50% and this occurs even after central and state governments have devised excellent policies to improve the conditions of girl's schooling. This study concentrates in analysing the literacy status of women in West Bengal and India.

Keywords: women literacy; education universalisation; decadal growth rate; discrepancy index; status of women; India; female literacy; gender equality; poverty alleviation; dropout rate; girl students.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEPEE.2014.063192

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 2014 Vol.7 No.2, pp.157 - 174

Published online: 26 Jul 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article