Getting Girls to School

How policies like free bicycles, toilets and cash incentives helped more girls attend secondary school in India, and why girls' education pays off so widely.

India has made major progress in girls’ schooling. Girls now enrol in school at similar or higher rates than boys at many levels. Several policies helped.

Bihar’s bicycles

In 2006, Bihar launched a programme giving bicycles to girls who enrolled in class 9. Many villages lacked nearby secondary schools, and long walks were a barrier, especially for safety.

Economists Karthik Muralidharan and Nishith Prakash found the programme increased girls’ secondary school enrolment by around 30 percent, and reduced the gender gap substantially. The effect was largest for girls living farther from schools. Other states adopted similar schemes.

Toilets

Studies suggest that building separate toilets in schools helped keep adolescent girls in school.

Cash incentives

State schemes pay families when girls enrol or complete school, and national scholarships support girls. Kanyashree in West Bengal, launched in 2013, gives cash to girls who stay in education and remain unmarried until 18.

Why girls’ education matters

Earnings: educated women earn more.
Health: mothers’ education strongly improves child health and nutrition.
Later marriage and lower fertility.
Empowerment: more say in household decisions.

Remaining challenges

Dropouts at secondary level due to household work, safety and early marriage.
Low female labour force participation despite education.
Choice of subjects, with fewer girls in some technical streams.

The bicycle ride

A 14-year-old girl in a Bihar village receives a bicycle when she enrols in class 9. The high school is 5 kilometres away, too far to walk safely. Now she rides with friends each day and completes class 10.

Thinking girls' education only benefits the girls themselves

Educating girls improves child health, family incomes and community wellbeing.

Key takeaways

Girls' enrolment in India has risen sharply.
Bihar's bicycle programme raised girls' secondary enrolment by around 30 percent.
Toilets and cash incentives like Kanyashree also helped.
Girls' education improves health, earnings and empowerment.