An inquiry into drop-out scenario and problems to access to education in India: A study on laggard Indian states

The problems of school drop-out and access to education in India has been a vexed question since independence. The so-called BIMARU states always show a dismal picture in educational outcomes. An attempt has been made in the present paper to throw light on problems related to school drop-out and access to education for four laggard Indian states ( UP, Bihar, MP , Rajasthan) using the national sample survey data (64th round). The analyses show that drop-out rate is quite high in all the four states though school enrollment rate is satisfactory. Financial problem and domestic problem are found to be the main reasons of drop-out and discontinuation. These two factors create problem in access to educational resources. But the patterns of problems vary across states and the problems are different for different religious and social groups. Efforts should be taken by the Govt. according to the nature of the problem to nourish the human capital in the states.