Most of the girls belonging to poor families do not go to school in rural areas. When asked, their parents would say that they want their daughters to be educated. They stay at home because their parents believe that the kind of education on offer is not appropriate for their daughters, or because they feel the risks are too great. Those risks are real. Girls are sexually harassed sometimes by their fellow students, or by strangers as they walk down to school. These pressures are central to low enrolment and retention of girls. Poverty also plays its part. If their clothes are torn, girls from poor families will stay at home. In such cases, they are forced by the demands of modesty and propriety.
