Abstract
While the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in primary schools in India is recorded at 95, the ratio falls to 62.5 in secondary schools. Over 47 million youths drop out of schools before they reach the age of 16.
There is widespread literature showing a strong relationship between attendance and enrollment. Most existing literature on Indian education has tried to understand this relationship by studying differences between private and public schools or through studies of rural and urban areas. Even though most schools adapt the state curriculum, there is limited research on studying the differences across the states.
This study aims to understand the relationship between attendance and secondary school enrollment in India by studying the differences across the Indian states. The results of the empirical tests indicate that there appears to be a strong positive relationship between attendance and enrollment in secondary schools. Further, with increase in proportion of qualified teachers, there also appears to be an increase in enrollment.