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Trends in Schooling among Muslims and Hindus in India
Authors: Madhusudan, J. V.; Singh, K. Jitenkumar; Yadav, Jeetendra
Source: Asia-Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, July-December 2010, v. 2, iss. 2, pp. 126-43
Topic(s): Education
Religion
Country: Asia
  India
Published: SEP 2010
Abstract: Study of educational attainment by different socio-religious communities in India will have important implications for educational policies and for research on the linkage between education and social exclusion. Keeping this in mind, an effort is made to understand the trends in primary schooling among Muslims in comparison with the Hindus in the major states in India. For this purpose the education data from three rounds of National Family Health Survey is used. The major aim of the present paper is to estimate the trends in primary school attendance and enrolment among the Muslims in comparison with the Hindus, to study the scenario of schooling by Standard of Living Index (SLI) and place of residence (rural/urban) among the Muslims and to explore the important determinants of schooling among the Muslims. The analysis uses the cross-tabulation and logistic regression to estimate the effect of predictor variables on educational attainment. The results indicate a distinct variation in school attendance in two socio-religious groups amongst the sample states with a disfavor to Muslims. Results also indicate that the place of residence, sex of the children and religion, sex of the household head, standard of living index, availability of electricity at household, and type of household remain as important determinants of schooling. The implications of the present analysis is that it may help in scrutinizing the recent trends and may help to review the policy and helps in identifying more suitable affirmative actions in order to achieve the set targets of universal education.