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. 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 levels—national 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 self-help 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.
But enrolment is only the first step. The next challenge is ensuring that girls who remain in school can also transition smoothly into higher education, vocational training, and meaningful work. Without this transition, the current gains risk being short-lived.
First, strengthening the bridge from school to higher education. The government can expand transport subsidies, hostel facilities, and targeted scholarships, especially for rural girls. District administrations could consider establishing cluster colleges in semi-urban centres to expand access to higher education beyond distant cities. Digital platforms like DIKSHA and SWAYAM have the potential to reduce the rural-urban gap by bringing quality content to smaller towns.
NGOs, philanthropic organisations, and corporates can support bridge courses and remedial learning to ensure that first-generation learners do not fall behind. Initiatives like Odisha’s Mo School Abhiyan, which mobilises alumni to adopt schools, fund infrastructure, and mentor students illustrate how community ownership can reinforce this bridge by combining academic support with aspirational role models.
Second, linking education with employability. The National Education Policy 2020 calls for greater integration of vocational education and flexible pathways, but implementation needs to accelerate. State skill missions could establish regional hubs linked to local economies and create mechanisms for collaboration with employers. A promising example is India’s first skill impact bond, a public-private initiative that uses outcome-based financing to link training with job opportunities, with more than half of its participants being women. Models like this show how sustainable skilling can be designed with gender at the centre.
Just as important is aspiration: girls need to see pathways into careers beyond traditional roles. Mentorship networks linking female professionals with schools and colleges can expand horizons and provide tangible role models, ensuring education translates not only into employability but also ambition.
Third, ensuring safety and agency. The report reminds us that adolescent girls remain especially vulnerable. In 2022, over 62,000 underage girls were registered as victims of sexual offences. Addressing this requires multi-layered action. The government can integrate school and transit safety audits into the Nirbhaya Fund framework, ensuring improvements are not ad hoc, but systematic. Strengthening police and judicial training can expedite the disposal of such cases.
Digital safety modules can be integrated into school curriculums. Panchayats can activate child protection committees to monitor unsafe areas, supported by simple mobile reporting tools. NGOs and philanthropies can strengthen accessible helplines like Childline 1098 by expanding them to WhatsApp and SMS, ensuring girls are aware of their rights and how to seek timely help.
The gains we celebrate today are the result of steady investments in primary education, maternal and child health, and girl-focused programmes over decades. They show how persistence in policy and initiatives across Centre and the states, complemented by community and private efforts, can create change at scale. The challenge now is to consolidate these advances and build on them by making secondary-to-tertiary transitions smoother, ensuring skills match the economy, and creating safe environments where girls can thrive. The story of India’s girl child is shifting from one of marginalisation to resilience and possibility.
Today’s 15-year-old girls will be in their thirties at the peak of their careers when the nation marks 100 years of independence. Supporting them now, through accessible higher education, relevant skills, and enabling environments is not just a matter of fairness. It is one of the smartest investments India can make.
