In Andhra Pradesh, even though the enrolment of girl children at the elementary level has skyrocketed, the Net Enrolment Rate (NER) at the secondary and higher secondary levels has dropped to a great extent, reveals a report by Child Rights & You (CRY), an NGO that works for health, education and safety of underprivileged children in India.
While more than 80% of girl children were enrolled in schools at the primary level, the NER was only 49% and 37% at the secondary and higher secondary levels, respectively, says the report.
CRY prepared a ‘Status report on key concerns for the girl child in Andhra Pradesh’ as part of its efforts to bring out the facts, in connection with National Girl Child Day, observed on January 24.
The report was prepared after analysing government data sources like the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21), National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2022 and Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) of Department of School Education data (2021-22), say the NGO members.
The report also highlights that an estimated 29% of women between 20 and 24 years of age got married before the age of 18, and over 65% of women aged between 15 and 19 years are estimated to be anaemic.
The safety and security of girl children also have raised a similar note of concern, as cases of rape and other sexual offences against girls made headlines, CRY’s report stated.
Elaborating on the analytical report, John Roberts, the CRY’s regional director (South), said, “Although successive governments have taken proactive measures to improve conditions of girl children, the data reveals that the overall situation is far short of expectations and calls for collective and concerted action.”
Mr. John Roberts concluded, “The government has a pivotal role to play by prioritising girl child-centric policies, allocating adequate resources strategically, and ensuring effective implementation.”
