Madhya Pradesh stood among the top three states where more than 8 per cent of girls stayed 'out-of-school'. The report also revealed the poor conditions and quality of education and infrastructure in the state, despite all the free offerings of books, bicycles, uniforms and scholarships. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2016, the states taking the top position in this regard are Uttar Pradesh (at 9.9 per cent) and Rajasthan (at 9.7 per cent). Madhya Pradesh followed the two with an 8.5 per cent rate of girls staying out of school and not receiving any education. "The proportion of 'out-of-school' girls (drop-outs as well as those who never went to school) in Madhya Pradesh was 6.2 per cent during 2014," the Pratham Foundation's MP Chief Sajjan Singh Shekhawat said, "This has now increased to 8.5 per cent." Madhya Pradesh has about 1.22 lakh schools. The report found that 2.9 percent of girls from rural areas, aged between 7 and 10 years, do not go to school and the same percentage of girls aged between 15 and 16, fail to ever read letters. Only 13.5 per cent of the girls had a standard I reading level. Also read: Himachal Pradesh has highest ratings in reading and maths: ASER 2016 Additionally, 64.3 per cent students of class eight were not able to read letters meant for class-II but not above and 8.1 per cent of students from class 8 and 18.4 per cent of class 5 students failed to read English capital letters. The report also found that 20 per cent of schools in Madhya Pradesh did not have toilets in 2010, which is one factor that has decreased to 5.6 per cent in the 2016 report. For more stories on education, click here
