ABSTRACT
Enrolment in schools is steadily increasing in India despite caste, class, tribe, and regional diversities. Nevertheless, the gender gap remains an impediment among marginalized groups, e.g., particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs). Evidence from Odisha’s educational status indicates a significant number of non-enrolled and out-of-school PVTG girls. For identifying gender gaps, this chapter addresses a few questions—how PVTGs perceive education and its role in the life of a girl child? How parents influence the participation of girls in education? What are the measures to be taken by schools and parents to bridge the gender gap? 178Data comprise the responses from four PVTGs in Odisha. Explanatory sequential mixed method (Creswell, 2013) and statistical tools like SPSS v.20 and MAXQDA are applied. It also identifies the barriers to arrive at evidence-based solutions.
