More girls taking class 10 exams than ever before: UP Board data

In a positive trend, the percentage of girl children pursuing education, at least till high school, in the state is on a steady rise, if data available with UP Board is taken into fact

In a positive trend, the percentage of girl children pursuing education, at least till high school, in the state is on a steady rise, if data available with UP Board is taken into fact.

In the 2022-23 session, over 1.11 crore students took admissions into classes 9 to 12 in around 28,000 schools affiliated to the board across 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Among them, 50,93,635 or 45.86% were girls, an official said

A scrutiny of the board’s high school examination records suggested the same. And as most of the schools affiliated to the board are located in rural areas, the records showed an increased inclination among the rural residents to educate their girl children, the board officials claimed.

Headquartered in Prayagraj, officials of Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP), popularly referred to as the UP Board, said for the high school examination of 2023, a total of 31,16485 candidates have registered. “Out of them, 14,18,462 (45.51%) are girls. This is the highest count of female students registering for the exam in the last five years,” said UP Board secretary Divyakant Shukla.

In the 2022-23 session, over 1.11 crore students took admissions into classes 9 to 12 in around 28,000 schools affiliated to the board across 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Among them, 50,93,635 or 45.86% were girls, he added.

The officials attributed the rise to the increasing awareness about the need for education among girl children.

Till three decades ago, the number of girls in high schools was less than one-fourth of boys. The enrollment of girl students has more than doubled over the three decades, the records showed. Out of 16,39,933 candidates registered for the high school board examination in 1993, only 3,63,574 (22.17%) were girls. In 2003, the figure improved to 30.60% and then to 43.33% in 2013.

“The rise in the number of girl students registering for secondary education is a good sign for the whole society. Due to the initiative of the government and the board, more parents have started taking interest in sending their daughters to schools,” said Neena Srivastava, a former secretary of the board.