Education is one of the most fundamental human rights; though the geography in which girls live proves challenging to their movement towards attaining it. The present study is designed to investigate the influence of distance from school on enrolment and retention of girls in secondary education in one of the most backward regions of India, Jharkhand's Jamtara, specifying an unfamiliar gap in the association between physical access and female educational outcomes. Conducted based on evidence drawn from an exceptionally well-mixed-method research design-the field-level household surveys, face-to-face in-depth interviews with students, and a little data analysis-supported by easily visible determinants with respect to attendance and dropout rates, the study has uncovered distances that become improbable for girls if extending more than 3 kilometers away from secondary schools (raising their dropout rates by 58%, as opposed to the counterpart being within a radius of 1 km). As the distance from school increased, peril from each form of the road, household responsibilities in general, and restrictions resulting from economic constraints exacerbated the obstacle even further to hinder these girls in attaining an education. The study did show that distance is not just an agent of physical barrier in itself but combines with cultural norms, perceptions of safety, and opportunity costs to develop educational trajectories. Outcomes have important policy implications for education and are more than worthy of some direct recommendations referring to structural planning, policy, and interventions for gender equity in rural Jharkhand and similar situations in the developing world.
Kumari Pallabi (Fri,) studied this question.