In a country where the average enrolment ratio for primary education is as high as 97 per cent, tertiary enrolment ratio remains dismal. As of 2012, in India, the enrolment ratio for tertiary (higher) education stood at 17.9 per cent which is one of the lowest in the world. However, the global average enrolment ratio for tertiary education stood at 25.2 per cent. While in Hong Kong, this ratio stood at 60 per cent, in case of China and Indonesia this ratio stood at 27 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. While the school drop-out ratios have improved from 40 per cent in 1999 to 28 per cent in 2010, no corresponding improvement in tertiary enrolment has been witnessed. The rate of tertiary enrolment has been slow, from 0.7 per cent in 1951 to 17.9 per cent in 2011-12. Almost all children are enrolled for primary education but this proportion falls to 66 per cent by the time children go to secondary school and falls further to 31 per cent for higher secondary school.
