Girl Child Education
Uttar Pradesh has made real progress in girls’ education in recent years — but the gap with more advanced states remains, and secondary school is still the stage where girls are most at risk of dropping out.
According to UDISE+ 2025-26 data from the Ministry of Education, Government of India, the girls’ secondary school dropout rate in Uttar Pradesh now stands at 7.3% — genuine progress, and below the national average. Female literacy in the state stands at roughly 66%, per NFHS-5 (National Family Health Survey, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare). Every percentage point still represents thousands of girls whose education hangs in the balance during those critical secondary years.
“A daughter who is educated does not stay within one household — her knowledge reaches every child she raises, every neighbour she advises, every decision her community makes. When we invest in a girl’s education, we are not funding one future. We are funding a generation.”— Mr. Satya Prakash Yadav, Co-Founder
Where We Work: Recognition That Reaches the Classroom
Kumbh Karuna Trust addresses this gap at the exact stage where it matters most — secondary school. Through programs like our Republic Day examinations at Jawahar Inter College in Prayagraj and GMS Kathariya School in Motihari, Bihar, we’ve engaged over 200 students directly, testing academic merit and rewarding it publicly with scholarships, medals, and certificates.
Why Public Recognition Matters
Financial barriers, social norms, and distance from school all push girls toward dropping out during the secondary years. We’ve found that public recognition of academic achievement — a medal handed to a girl in front of her school, her family, and her community — does something a scholarship cheque alone cannot: it makes continued education feel expected, not exceptional. That shift in expectation, repeated across enough villages and enough Republic Days, is how a 7.3% dropout rate becomes a rounding error instead of a headline.