mortiz029

21 million children of primary school age in India were out of school in 2006, more than in any other country. Compared to 2000, the number of children out of school has fallen by 9 million, but the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015 can only be met if the increase in primary school attendance accelerates in the coming years. According to data from a nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), the primary school net attendance rate (NAR) in India was 83 percent in 2006. (In India, the DHS is referred to as National Family Health Survey or NFHS.) In other words, more than 8 out of 10 children of primary school age (6-10 years in India) were attending primary school. In 2000, the primary school net attendance rate was 76 percent. Although the attendance rate has increased, there are persistent disparities in the education system of India. The bar graph below displays the primary school NAR by sex, area of residence, and household wea...

India is the country with the largest number of children out of school. India has more children of school age than China and at the same time relatively low attendance rates, in spite of recent increases in primary and secondary school participation. Newly released data from a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) show that the primary school attendance rate has increased by more than one percentage point annually since the beginning of the decade. In 2000, 76 percent of all children of primary school age (6-10 years) were in school. By 2006, this value had increased to 83 percent (see Table 1). The attendance rate of girls increased by 9 percent over the 2000-2006 period and the attendance rate of boys by 6 percent. School attendance rates also grew in urban and rural areas, and across all household wealth quintiles. However, close to 17 percent of all children of primary school age continue to be out of school. Table 1: Children of primary school age in school (percent), India 2000 an...