Putting Women’s Education in India into Perspective

Evan explains why Nanubhai’s mission is so important.

Women’s Education in India

According to data compiled by the United Nations, only 51% of Indian women

(15 and older) are literate. If you look at the age group of Indian women from the age

range of 15 to 24 though, the literacy rate improves significantly to 74%. In comparison,

the corresponding rates for men are 75% for men 15 and older and 88% for men between

the ages of 15 to 24. While women make 46% of secondary enrollment, currently,

women make up only 40% of tertiary enrollment (enrollment in college and university

programs).

The overall levels of education in the younger generations of Indians seem to be

improving and with this improvement there needs to be more opportunities for girls to

continue their education and pursue college degrees. If receiving a college education

seems completely out of reach, what incentive is there for girls to value their education

and graduate high school? To some girls in this situation, continuing their secondary

education may seem useless in the larger scheme of things.

This is why NEF’s mission is so important in helping India achieve growth. If

there were more opportunities offered to help girls attend college, more girls would be

incentivized to graduate high school and to pursue attending college. Educating more

women would allow India to utilized untapped resources. Women present an opportunity

for India to further develop. In half of the population is underutilized, India will have a

hard time reaching its potential and will continue to be inefficient. Educating girls just

makes common sense and supporting NEF can help make this vision a reality.

(Source: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/socind/default.htm)