VIKSIT WOMEN FOR A VIKSIT BHARAT

WHEN the Government of India released a report titled Children in India 2025, one statistic stood out quietly but powerfully: at the secondary school level, girls are now marginally ahead of boys in enrolment.

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The Gender Parity Index at this stage is close to 1.1, meaning that in many classrooms across the country, girls slightly outnumber boys.

Add to this the sharp fall in secondary school dropout rates from 13.8 percent in 2022-23 to 8.2 percent in 2024-25 and the steady decline in child marriage, and a clear story emerges. India's long-term investment across levelsnational policies, state innovations, and community leadership in educating its daughters is paying dividends.

This progress reflects years of sustained policy action, with state-level innovations that build on broader policy priorities to strengthen outcomes for girls. This includes initiatives such as free cycles in several states including Jharkhand, hostels for girls in Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha's ANWESHA scheme, which has supported over 22,000 disadvantaged children including girls in better-equipped urban schools since 2015.

Equally significant is Odisha's Mission Shakti, one of the largest women's selfhelp group movements in the country, which shows how women's collective leadership can inspire adolescent girls. Philanthropies and companies have also complemented government action by piloting adolescent programmes, funding digital classrooms, and supporting safe transport. Together, these efforts have created an environment where families see girls' education as both possible and valuable.