new delhi government schemes and programmes designed to help girls continue in school arent working at the primary level the number of girls per 1000 boys has fallen from 881 in 201011 to 867 in 201314 at the secondary school level it has fallen from 859 in 201011 to 840 in 201314 only scheduled caste sc students have a healthy ratioin the 900s or even more than 1000at middle secondary and seniorsecondary levels r govinda vicechancellor national university for educational planning and administration nuepa however doesnt see it as a failure of government schemes and policies or even a longterm trend he says enrolment at the primary level increased tremendously after right to education act was implemented in 2010 itll take a few years for that change to show up in the statistics govinda says more girls than boys drop out after finishing primary and middle levels but those who enter secondary school usually stay on till the end that isnt the case with boys which may explain the increase in sex ratio from secondary to seniorsecondary in 201011 the sex ratio was 859 at secondary level and 881 at seniorsecondary level in 201314 it declined to 840 at the secondary level but increased to 896 at the seniorsecondary level this is not because of greater participation of girls but because boys have started dropping out by this stage in delhi boys start dropping out when they move from municipal to government schools says saurabh sharma of josh a city ngo that is also part of the right to education forum for five feeder municipal schools there will be one government school in that crowding boys find it very difficult to survive they may get out and start working he says the problem is shortage of schools not resistance from parents he disagrees with govinda on the effectiveness of government schemes most parents dont even know how to apply for ladli theres no one to tell them what to do people have no faith in schemes says sharma why do sc students have a better sex ratio sharma cant explain that one does this mean sc parents are more aware i dont think so govinda says it could be because sc boys and sc girls drop out equally the figures bear this out but only for 201011 when 12747 boys and 13836 girls transitioned to seniorsecondary from 17188 boys and 17650 girls who were in class x and the sex ratio remained over 1000 in 201213 the number of sc students increased from 77470 in secondary to 81853 in seniorsecondary