Can Families in Rural India Bear the Additional Burden of Secondary Education? Investigating the Determinants of Transition

India has witnessed an increased participation in basic education in recent years, in the context of a major programme for its promotion: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Despite a significantly improved picture at the basic level, a considerable proportion of children continue to drop out before reaching the secondary level and of those who do complete their basic education, only 88 percent go on to participate in secondary schooling. This study investigates the factors influencing parents’ decision whether or not to send their children to secondary schooling and finds that overall the effect of additional cost and distance to secondary schooling proves significant, with cost being the most consistent factor, while distance is found to have a more nuanced effect. The study is particularly relevant in the context of the latest major initiative, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan which aims to achieve universal retention in secondary education by 2015.