Expanding access to secondary education: Can India catch up? Keith M. Lewin Centre for International Education, Education Department, University of Sussex, Essex House, Brighton BN1 9QQ, UK 1. Introduction Access to education in India remains widely problematic, with great variations between and within states, and large differences in participation between identifiable sub-populations e.g. Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SCs and STs), girls, and some populations of Muslims. In India as a whole, though initial enrolments rates in the first grade are generally high, about 30% of children fail to complete Grade V (primary), about 50% drop out before completing Grade VIII (upper primary), and 60% do not finish Grade X (lower secondary). In northern India in the BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh), even fewer survive to the end of upper primary, and most of the population fail to acquire any secondary schooling. Research within the Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE) has identified various zones of exclusion. Zone 4–6 of the general model (Lewin, 2007a) relate to transitions into secondary school and progress through to completion of a secondary cycle. In most countries lower secondary schooling is part of basic education and thus falls under commitments to universalise educational access made at the Jomtien and Dakar global education conferences on Education for All (EFA) and endorsed by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In India the Right to Education Bill provides for universal access for 6–14 years olds which covers all of elementary education up to the threshold for secondary school. Low levels of access to secondary schooling have consequences for many aspects of development. Universal completion of the elementary school cycle (Grades I–VIII) is unlikely unless transition rates into secondary are sufficient to provide opportu- nities for the majority of primary school completers. Where few go to secondary school many will lack the motivation to persist to Grade VIII, and may judge the costs greater than the benefits. Universal access to primary schooling will also be difficult to sustain unless there are sufficient numbers graduating from secondary schools and willing and able to become primary teachers. Gender equity in schooling will also be elusive. Where there are disparities in enrolment between boys and girls at primary they are almost always greater at secondary school and do not diminish until enrolment includes the majority of children. There are other compelling reasons to expand participation in secondary schooling. Many indicators of well being – health status, nutritional levels, fertility and infant mortality – have well known development related correlations with parental levels of education, especially that of mothers (Cochrane, 1979; Behrman, 1996). Household asset and food poverty is also strongly associated with educational participation (Filmer and Pritchett, 1999; Filmer, 2005; Lewin and Sabates, forthcoming). Social mobility out of poverty, including the kinds of household poverty which persist across International Journal of Educational Development 31 (2011) 382–393 ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Education Secondary Costs India Expansion RMSA ABSTRACT In the last decade the national Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme has focussed on universaling access to elementary education (Grades I–VIII). Most recently the Right to Education Act provides the legislative framework to guarantee schooling to all children between 6 and 14 years of age. It remains the case however that less than half of all children attend and complete secondary school especially in the Northern states. Under the 11th National Plan Rastriya Madhyamic Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) has been launched to increase the numbers entering secondary school. This paper explores some of the key issues in planning and managing the growth in participation that is envisaged so that 75% or more enjoy the benefits of transition to Grades IX and X. The issues include the constraints on expansion that arise from the restricted output of elementary school graduates, the continued exclusion of the poorest and those from disadvantaged groups from progression to Grade VIII, the costs to households and government of universal secondary schooling as currently structured, the limits to growth of private provision, the massive infrastructure needs, and the problems associated with increasing teacher supply and deployment. Policy dialogue around secondary school expansion is a central concern if India is to close the gap between itself and China and other rapidly developing countries in educating most of its population beyond the elementary level. ß 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. E-mail address: k.m.lewin@sussex.ac.uk. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Educational Development journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev 0738-0593/$ – see front matter ß 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2011.01.007