Abstract:

With over 200 million illiterate women and over 3 million eligible yet out of school girls, India is the epicentre of gender gap in education. The Government has invested billions of dollars in universalizing primary education, and despite this, there are under-served, marginalized geographies in India where girls are deprived of education.

Educate Girls - a non-state player in the public education space in India works closely with the state, lobbies the communities, improves the functioning and governance of public schools, in order to ensure that more girls are enrolled in schools, their attendance is maintained and their learning outcomes are improved.

With a programmatic presence in over 4,600 villages and over 8,000 schools, Educate Girls' codified, sustainable program model has enrolled over 100,000 girls in formal schools and has directly benefited over 2.8 million children.

Safeena Husain will exemplify how a non-state player (Educate Girls) plays a vital catalytic role in improving the public education space for the most marginalized girls in India.